Crossing Paths, Healing Scars
by Tahkaullus01
Summary: Book One in the 'From the Pandorica to Utopia' Series. The Doctor once decided that he was the Earth's highest authority. Fresh from the Time War he's about to meet someone who has an even better claim. Even more annoying is that he seems to know everything about the Doctor. He even has his own Screwdriver!
1. Prologue

**A/N: **Right, here goes nothing. As you're probably guessing, I'm giving Doctor Who a go in the time honoured tradition of looking at Doomsday and going 'fuck that.' Of course I'm doing it in my own way, I can't just change it with a snap of my fingers. So I have to work my way up to it. Besides, I like to think my resolution to that situation is a unique one. Anyway let's get the claims bullshit out of the way: Doctor Who is one hundred percent, absolutely, assuredly, not mine. That goes for the Doctor, his companions, the TARDIS, the Time Lords, The Daleks, Autons, Slitheen, Jagrafess, Reapers, Gelth, Cassandra, Chula Gas-mask zombies (Steven Moffat is genius), and the Ann-Droid. One day though! One day!  
I do, however, own Tahkaullus Neuvo, as he is the king of awesome, with lordships in the land of Kickassia...no wait Channel Awesome owns that, dammit!

**From the Pandorica to Utopia**

**Book 1: Crossing Paths and Healing Scars**

**Prologue**

Did you ever feel like you were born to do something? Like you were meant to achieve something impossible and wonderful even though you had no idea what it could be? Was there ever a time when you met a person – or persons – who just got you right off the bat?

Well bully for you because my life only covers two of those, and not extremely well at that.

My name is Tahkaullus Neuvo, and ever since the beginning of the AD calendar I have crossed paths with the most unique man in the world. He has been there in the shadows, preserving humanity the same way I work to preserve the other Terran races. There are so many names that come with him, so many titles that he has earned himself over his time. They speak legends about him around campfires, I should know, I've told a couple myself. You'd never believe the things he's done, the sacrifices he's made. You'd believe it even less if you met him. After all, how does a man with floppy hair and green eyes, wearing tweed and a bow tie of all things – sometimes accompanied with a fez, my God – measure up to the image of the Oncoming Storm?

But I know what lurks behind that crafty disguise, I've seen what lurks within those timeless eyes that, no matter what colour they are, always swirl with the whole of time hidden within. Those eyes have gazed upon whole armies and they've just turned and ran away, all because of a man with no plan, back up, or any sort of proper weapon. Just a screwdriver that's conveniently sonic and I have watched it happen, time and time again.

Of course that's not to say we always meet in the right order. It's not always Bow-Tie Boy who I tend to, quite literally, bump into as I work my way through this world's timeline. It's not always green eyes that stare into the abyss and never blink, not always a tweed jacket that disguises his most powerful weapon – his mind. More often than not I'll run into a man in a long trench coat, a gift from Janis Joplin, wearing a pinstripe suit and white converse – perfect for running in – with, in his own words 'big hair' or in another friend's words 'great hair.' Much rarer are the times when I meet a man in leather and jeans, big ears and piercing blue eyes that stare right through you. That life was so short that I only got to glimpse him a few times, and every time I see him like that it's clear that he's a broken man. A veteran soldier still running from the atrocities he committed against his own people for the sake of all creation.

But he's never alone. No, he always has his companions to help shoulder the burden, and they've never let him down when it matters. I've seen them all but, like him, I only focus on the man who would become Big-Hair Man, and then Bow-Tie Boy and so only really know the ones who travelled with him after the war; The student who became a soldier, the woman that saved the multiverse, the last centurion, the girl who waited, and so many others. And her. She's always there, holding his hand, bearing the burden unlike all the others. Because unlike her, it becomes too much for them. And they leave, or he leaves them behind. But not her. She refuses to be left behind, refuses to let him suffer in silence, and the times he does send her away she just comes back. I ought to know, I was there both times. Saved her life once or twice…but I'm getting ahead of myself.

What's really important is this: I have spent the last two thousand years walking in and out of this mysterious couple's lives - or maybe it's the reverse – and all I know is this. I wouldn't be the man I am today if I hadn't stood beside a group of Nestene controlled Roman Centurions within Stonehenge and hadn't watched that man shout out to the heavens, the sky filled with every single thing that had a reason to want him dead, and tell them to let somebody else try first. Nor would I be who I am today if my first meeting with his constant companion was to have her fling her arms around me and squeeze me tight, telling me how wonderful it was to see me again – making me feel wanted, when all I felt was despair.

I wouldn't be Tahkaullus Neuvo if I had never met The Doctor and Rose Tyler. And this is the story of how that meeting came to pass.

* * *

**A/N** Right, that's the prologue. This will actually tie in with the Harry Potter fic I'm writing, 'The Saviour's Critic.' This is more of an origin story for Kaullus, though I will be keeping a few things close to the chest, mostly because I'm still figuring out how it all ties together. Oh, one more thing, this series won't cover every episode of Doctor Who, just the episodes when he's on Earth because, as you might have guessed, Kaullus won't travel with the Doctor. He just meets him here and there.


	2. Rose

**Chapter 1**

**Rose**

If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he'd been waiting for this day ever since the first time he met them so many years ago. Back then he'd been a useless nobody, content with just continuing to cut down Chosen where he found them, no big plan in mind or any ideas of reform, he just wanted to kill something. Leftovers from the Purge thousands of years ago from which he still hadn't fully recovered. Nothing had mattered back then.

Until Stonehenge, until a mad man with a box and a bow tie, along with a frisky red head and a brilliant brunette had shown up, strutting about like he owned the place. In the span of one night he managed to turn his whole character upside down and all around. And what got Kaullus all the more was that all present knew him! Him, a worthless relic of a lost age! The brunette had hugged him and smiled at him, until the mad man had stepped in, speaking in a firm tone that, at the time, Kaullus had mistaken for jealousy.

And suddenly he was lost with them at Stonehenge, watching the mad man tinker with a giant cube that was said to house the most dangerous thing in the universe…

So long ago now. And he had seen them since then, all through the centuries. And every time he felt like they were making him better, until suddenly he found himself in a situation that he would have once just turned away from and gone about his business. But now he found himself asking 'what would they do?' and after trying to answer that impossible question he went about doing his best to emulate what they would do. And suddenly he found himself doing these things not to make them proud, but because he liked doing it. He liked helping out. And every now and again he would run into them, getting into their own spot of trouble. Sometimes they had company, sometimes they were on their own. Sometimes they brought another couple, sometimes it was that maddening Captain that defied logic…though Kaullus had to admit he hadn't seen much of him lately.

_Probably skulking around Cardiff, waiting for them to show up_ He thought to himself as he hopped onto the bus behind a blonde girl wearing a faded pink hoodie and slack jeans, and jumping off at the same stop as her.

This had been his routine now for the last eighteen years…when he wasn't on call with something else. James and Lily's deaths still hung over him, it was only four years after their deaths and little Harry was still missing. But he'd managed to distract himself with work, and in that work a bubbling sense of excitement had begun to take hold over the last few months.

Because this was it. This was the day. For two thousand years he'd stumbled around the Earth, doing his best to avoid the earlier incarnations of his old friend, only meeting when a certain pink and yellow human was with him, because that was when they knew him.

That same pink and yellow human had just gotten off her morning shift in Henrik's, a decidedly bored expression on her face as she stepped out for lunch.

'_Just you wait' _Kaullus wanted to say so badly, as he watched her with her boyfriend making googley-eyes and generally having a bit of a laugh, _'very soon now you're gonna be whisked away to see the stars.' _

And that 'very soon' was today. Because today he'd gotten a call from Eye, the central intelligence system in the Underworld, informing him that there had been a Sighting – and not just any sighting. A Blue Box Sighting.

Today was the day.

Today, Rose Tyler met The Doctor.

As the afternoon wore on, Kaullus began to get restless. What was keeping him? They'd told him about this meeting at least five times, usually as a way to make their other friends a bit more comfortable around them. He'd never gone into the shop himself, just stood vigil around the Powell Estate, or more accurately London, or even more accurately, around wherever Rose was. He'd been like that ever since 1987 when Pete Tyler died. He could never say hello, but he could at least be a friend when she needed one.

The unpleasant memory of Jimmy Stones came to mind. Kaullus was still sure he would have killed the little shit unless Rose, wonderful girl that she was, begged him to stop. She didn't know him, she had barely been wearing anything save the shredded nightshirt; her face was red with tear stains as well as slap marks…and she'd still begged him to stop. She just wanted to go home.

And so he took her home. Because when in his life had he ever been able to deny Rose Tyler anything?

Her mother had been traumatised by the sight of her, dragging her in and immediately putting her to bed. Kaullus had then been subjected to what he would come to term, the Tyler Inquisition – a thousand questions, all at once, without pause, all in one breath. Quite a feat for a species without a respiratory bypass system. Still he'd done his best to answer her questions and promised that the one responsible would be held accountable.

Two nights later the police had received an anonymous tip that a known rapist was hiding out in the Powell Estate in flat thirty two. Two hours after, Kaullus watched from the shadows as Jimmy Stones was tossed into a police car in nothing but a shirt and boxers. Before the car pulled away though, Kaullus stepped into the light, enough so that Stones could see him. The enraged shrieking as the bastard connected the dots was the most satisfying thing he'd heard all week.

Which brought him back to now, three years later, the twenty-sixth of March 2005, half-past four in the evening. And still no sign of the Doctor.

_What's keeping him? _Kaullus checked his watch again, the shop would be closing soon so what was taking him? Rose had always teased him about blowing the shop up so where was the kaboom?

_There's supposed to be an Earth-shattering…well maybe not _that_ big of a kaboom. Well, maybe a bit more than a normally big kaboom…Oh my God I'm starting to think like him! Well, that should only be natural, considering we keep running into each other. Still it doesn't mean I have to think like him. Why can't I think like her? All arranged and normal and human-ish. Not that she'll – Oi! Spoilers! What spoilers?! It's already happened for me!_

…_I'm arguing with myself…it's official, I am clinically insane…. Fantastic!_

He'd perched himself on the fountain in Leicester Square and was just staring at the shop whilst his mind babbled to itself, as if that would make it blow up for him. But nothing was happening! Nothing, nadda.

_They did say March twenty-sixth, right?_ He was about to reach into his coat pocket to get out his old beaten diary – a gift from another temporally challenged friend – when he caught sight of her again. Same bored expression as when she'd left for lunch, except now it was 'bored expression as she goes back home to her mother.' And then she was halted by the security guard at the front of the doors, holding out a package for her. Suddenly things started to perk up. Things he'd been told by them both coming back to him.

'_I was just gonna give Wilson his winnings and go.'_

'_Jeopardy friendly her, right from the go. Hears a door close, just has to look into it!'_

Suddenly he was moving, even as she huffed and snatched the package out of the guard's hand and turned back in. Catching the guard's smug look as she walked back in, Kaullus felt no guilt when he walked through the doors and, when the guard tried to stop him, laid him out with a back hand punch. It didn't matter that these events needed to happen – causality loop and all – no one made fun of Rose Tyler.

_Except for me. And the Doctor. And Jack….wow you'd wonder why she still hangs around with us._

She'd already gotten in the lift and was heading down when he reached the lift doors. And despite what he knew was about to happen, he couldn't help the excited grin that tugged at his lips as he started for the stairs.

He could hear her calling out for Wilson about his winnings even as he cleared the first set of stairs, acute hearing due to whatever it was had been done to him all those years ago to make him…him. As such he also picked up the frustration in her voice as she tried again. And then he heard a scuttle, and against his reason, knowing the Doctor would be waiting, his pace picked up.

"Hello?" That was her, same curious voice as ever…if a little higher pitched due to her youth. But still the same, still Rose. Really did never change. "Hello, Wilson, it's Rose." She called out again, even as he came to a halt at the bottom of the staircase, finally remembering that he couldn't let himself be seen. Not yet anyway. Didn't mean he couldn't peek around the corner.

She was blonde now. How long had she been blonde before giving up on dying it? A bit clumpier going by the way the pink hoodie hung from her, though that could be from the baggy jeans. And she was going towards the fire door.

_Of course!_ Kaullus couldn't help but think in fond exasperation. _Because a weird noise couldn't possibly be, I don't know, a piece of plastic slipping off…actually come to think of it, that's exactly what it is. Huh._

She'd gone through the fire door properly now and was likely staring around at the numerous shop window dummies, still calling out for Wilson.

Come to think of it, they'd never really gone into detail about Wilson properly. Rose had told him that the Doctor merely stated he was dead. Still, Kaullus always felt better if, when he couldn't save a life, he could still glean something about the person or thing that killed the victim. The door was locked, no surprise there. Nevertheless he was not without his own little tool for getting into places. Who said the Doctor was the only one allowed to own a sonic screwdriver? Kaullus' version was slightly smaller than the one his friend used, with a darker casing, the emitter had two settings – blue and red – with built in dampers to cut out interference from outside transmissions. What Kaullus really liked though was the identification ring: You slotted your little finger through it and, if you were the keyed-in owner, it worked; if you weren't…bad things happened.* Given to him in good faith, it was a sign of trust that he'd vowed never to break. Getting to work, he pointed the dark red emitter at the door knob and set to work, keeping an ear out for the Doctor. Where was he?

_He's running late. _

The gentle hum of the screwdriver ended with the abrupt click of the door lock. Steeling himself for what might be within, Kaullus opened the door. What he saw, admittedly, was not the worst he'd seen in his crossing paths with the Doctor and Rose – he'd seen a human with a Dalek for a head for crying out loud! Wilson's slightly podgy body was lying out on the floor, his chair tipped over, and clear signs of a struggle littered all over the place. The most prominent thing about the whole thing though, was the gaping hole in the man's chest, smoke still rising out. Wincing a little at the sight, Kaullus sighed and closed the door again.

And the same time the fire doors slammed shut. It wasn't until he heard the frantic shaking on the other side that he remembered he wasn't the only person down here.

_Rose!_

That panicked sense of urgency whenever something threatened her was active again, and he was at the door in a flash, screwdriver in hand as he set to work unlocking the door. On the other side he heard something topple over and his need to get in intensified.

"Is there someone mucking about?" That was an odd tone there…Kaullus had heard Rose sound nervous before, but that was usually when they really had no plan whatsoever and she was just adlibbing. The last few decades though…and in 1869 now that he thought about it…well she was young yet. And it was her way of being curious that would make her…wait…curious…

_No, no, no! Don't do that Rose! Don't be curious, don't go looking for it! Get back over to the door! _It didn't matter that it was a set event, he'd gone through too much with this brilliant woman, with her Doctor leading them along, to let something as degrading as a living bloody plastic dummy to do her in!

And then he heard it. The stretched out, bendy whine of plastic. And then a thud. A step.

_No! NO! _The sonic was now on and he had it on the door.

"R-right, you got me, very funny…" oh god the nervous laugh. Again it struck him weird that the nervous laugh came out _now_. _Too much time with a more seasoned Rose. _"Right I've got the joke! Whose idea was this?!" Another few thuds…four more were moving…five more…_ Come on! Come ON! _"Is this Derek? Derek is this you?!" Terror…he'd very rarely heard terror in her voice before, she'd always been so level headed, only really losing it when the Doctor was in trouble, not the other way around.

_Damn it Doctor, WHERE ARE YOU?! _The door finally swung open and Kaullus found himself at the back of a huge swath of living dummies, all with their back to him, focussing on the girl who was now backed up against the far wall, the lead dummy in a beach shirt raising its arm to strike her. Rose wasn't moving.

_WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU MOVING TYLER!? Why the hell aren't _I _moving?! _

That last thought set him into action and he grabbed the nearest dummy, however his eyes never left Rose's screwed up face as she waited for the blow to land. Sadly he'd seen that face before, three years ago…and that made him mad. He was about to rip the dummy's head off when he spotted something that sent his heart soaring.

He looked the same as when he'd literally run into them in Cardiff in 1869, like when he ran into him at the speakeasy in 1941, when he ran across him in 1987; cropped hair; blue eyes; leather jacket and jumper; black jeans; and of course, big ears. He wrapped his hand around hers – in a way that Kaullus had seen them do so many times before, drawing an unconscious grin on his face – and said one word to her, one word that would define the two of them for all time, just one word.

"Run!"

And then they were off, the dummy's hand striking thin air.

Today was the day alright.

"Well then." Kaullus finally muttered, popping of the head of his captive dummy and kicking it across the room, his own London accent ringing out, drawing the attention of the plastic host. "I seem to remember being in this position before. Last time I was a pathetic wreck of a man. Now?" He grinned as he sauntered through the swath of living plastic to stand in the centre of them, ignoring the mechanic whirrs as the Nestene creature's knuckles disconnected to reveal their concealed blasters. "Now I'm a man who's met the Doctor. Name's Tahkaullus Neuvo. And this is just so fitting."

And then he was moving. Even as the first shot went off, he'd swept two off of their feet with a low sweeping kick. The blast he'd dodged hit the Nestene opposite the gunner and it went down.

"Ooh," he couldn't help but mock, "friendly fire. Not very good team players are you?" He kicked out before they could respond, still low, balancing on his hands, and sent the Nestene in front of him smacking into a stack of boxed clothes. Shoving himself back onto his feet, Kaullus went for his screwdriver, already bored with the admittedly less versatile plastic people than he remembered.

"Gotta say, I thought fighting you guys again would be more…fulfilling." He admitted as he set the sonic to a setting that would temporarily cut out the Nestene Consciousness's control. "When you boys were masquerading as Romans, it was a lot more believable. What happened, did your daddy have something better to eat that day?" He didn't really expect an answer so he just pressed the button on the sonic and let it do its job. The effect was slow but visible as the Nestenes slowed to a halt, sputtered, and then ultimately stopped, collapsing to the floor.

Sighing, Kaullus pocketed the sonic again and turned to leave…and ran right into the big eared slice of good news he'd seen a minute before.

As he expected, the Doctor's first line was, as always, abrupt and, because he was the Doctor, rude. "What're you doin' here?"

"Hello to you too" Kaullus muttered in return as he straightened himself out, dusting off some imaginary dirt. "Yeah don't thank me for taking care of this lot." He nodded at the group of frozen Nestenes.

The Doctor followed his eye and looked at the fallen dummies, "An' how'd you manage tha' then? Never mind. Don't care, toddle off now." And with that he strolled right by him. Rolling his eyes, Kaullus stuffed his hands in his pockets, counting down.

_Three…two…one._

"Oh!" The Doctor turned back, "I'm off to go an' blow a big relay transmitter device on top of this building, with this 'ere." And finally he held up the device that had been hidden by his jacket-covered self.

_Big-ish, two bits of bundled something wired up to an electrical doohickey, and of course a ticking clock. Yep, that's a bomb._

"An' there's the chance I'll be blown 'way with it," the Doctor continued, coming back and ushering Kaullus back the way he'd come and toward the lift, "but don' worry 'bout me. You jus' go on home, go get yourself a lager an' watch the match." He practically shoved Kaullus into the lift when it arrived, not knowing that the only way he could've done that was because Kaullus had allowed himself to be shoved around. Sighing, Kaullus turned around with a rebuke on his tongue…and it died when he saw that familiar look, that look of absolute seriousness that survived the fires of regeneration every time.

The Doctor looked him in the eye, "Like I told the girl, you telling anyone about this will end up getting them killed." And then he pushed the button for the ground floor and stepped away as the doors closed. And again Kaullus rolled his eyes and waited for it.

_Three…two…one._

A hand grabbed the door and forced it back open, the Doctor popping his head back in, "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

Fighting hard not to smirk at the sheer familiarity of this, he replied "Tahkaullus."

"Yeah?" And to his credit the Doctor frowned, "Sounds foreign."

"Urdu," Kaullus replied easily "derived from 'Takhallus.'" He shrugged and tried for a small grin. "Means poet."

The Doctor's frown lasted a bit longer as he analysed him for a moment longer before giving one of his more patronising grins. _Is it creepy that I can tell which are his real smiles and which are fake? _The Doctor cut in before he could think about that any further. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr Poet. Run for your life!" He waved the bomb in his hand again and then vanished down the corridor again. This time the doors closed without a fuss and the lift rose up to the ground floor.

Still it took a while for the lift to reach the floor, so Kaullus leaned against the wall, folded his arms and let out a chuckle. That went just about as well as he thought it would. Oh he hadn't intended to run smack dab into the Doctor, although it did answer a few questions he'd had. _Can't believe he got his nickname for me _from _me._ Causality loop right there. The Doctor had been just as blustery as Rose and himself had made him out to be; in a rush, no time to chat, but _definitely _time to tell you his name and what the hell he was doing here. _That's just the Doctor for you. _He thought to himself fondly as he jogged out of the lift doors and through the ground floor of Henrik's. The security guard was just coming to – _whack! – _oh dear he hit his head on the floor again. Sighing, Kaullus picked him up and stared at the doors, rolling his eyes when he realised they were still active. Well, seeing as Wilson was dead there wasn't anyone to switch off the power. Shrugging, he stepped through the automatic doors, cool as a cucumber, and laid the unconscious man down on a near bench.

He only got another couple of steps before the explosion. The sound of shattering glass accompanied the loud boom and he couldn't help but smile when he spotted a familiar face staring up in shock and little bit of awe as her workplace went up in smoke right in front of her.

_Welcome, Rose Tyler, _he thought to himself as he watched her scramble off past a very familiar blue box, _to the rest of your life._

He wasn't all that concerned about her right now though, she'd be back at the Powell Estate within an hour and then Jackie Tyler would be doing her thing again, calling up her neighbours and telling the world that she deserves compensation. Then Mickey would come in, his usual sweet but clumsy self, and try to get her down to the pub to catch the last five minutes of the match on Sky. No he was more interested in the blue box that just sat there at the opening of an alley being a possible nuisance for anyone with a bike to get past. Kaullus crossed the street in silence, ignoring the shock babbling of onlookers staring at the burning Henrick's building, and came to a halt in front of the blue wooden doors. Not quite as blue as when he first laid eyes on her, a bit more worn, but still very clearly the one and only Time And Relative Dimension in Space Type 40 capsule that had brought his friends to him on that night so very long ago, and ever since. He laid his hand on the wooden door and immediately felt the telepathic hum of the sentient machine hidden within.

"_Hello again for the first time, Old Girl." _He thought to her, and almost immediately he felt the surprised, and at the same time not surprised, response from the TARDIS. _"It's been a while for me, though I guess this is the first time you've ever felt me isn't it? Hmm, funny how things work out isn't it? How's he doing? Still mourning the Time Lords?" _He felt the sad hum reverberate up his arm and nodded his understanding. _"Yeah thought as much. Don't worry though. He's going to get better very soon now, so very soon someone is going to come into his life…" _His heart swelled with pride as he continued, _"and she is going to be…well…she'll be her, won't she?"_

He felt the happy, if not a bit wary hum from the ship and smiled, understanding her hesitance. _"Oh don't worry, this won't be like one of the usual strays. Oh no, she's going to change things around here. I'd better not say any more, you know what River says…or I guess you don't yet. Never mind then. See you later in the past, Old Girl."_ He felt the farewell travel up his hand and let go.

There was nothing more he could do today so he determined to head home…well, home was relative. Right now home was a flat in the Powell Estate just shy of Jackie Tyler's. Which meant he'd be in a perfect position to run into them tomorrow.

The ride back by bus was short, and he hopped off just in time to see the boy who'd be left behind, Mickey Smith, chuck a familiar plastic looking arm into the bin. _Oh boy…so that's how it got so close. _He couldn't help but grin as he remembered the smug git telling him about it. _Only focussing on him my arse! It just wanted a piece! Can't say I don't understand, Rose looks great in a dress._

Shrugging, and reminding himself about established timelines and all that jazz, Kaullus climbed the stairs of the estate and slotted his key in, just making out the familiar gaggle of Jackie Tyler, once again on her phone, chatting to…Bev by the sound of it. And poor Rose being subjected to the Tyler Inquisition. He almost felt sorry enough to play with the timelines a bit…almost. _Sorry Rose, but when it comes to Jackie Tyler, you're on your own. _

His apartment wasn't exactly cushy. Mostly what he had were the essentials, as well as a change of clothes that were all identical. Another influence of the Doctor's, wearing the same thing all the time. Of course unlike the Doctor he had to modify the look over time to fit in with the current trends lest he appear a nutter and he'd rather not miss out on an adventure with the mad man in his blue box. When it came to his room however, he had indulged a bit, buying himself a double with a good springy mattress. He had needs after all, and after living as long as he had, he'd had quite the number of…dancing partners as Rose had yet to one day put it. But right now, 'dancing' wasn't on his mind as he hung up his coat, stripped himself clean of every scrap of clothing and collapsed onto the bed. He wasn't exactly tired, rather he needed to relax and prepare himself for tomorrow. Today had been the meeting, tomorrow would cover the adventure.

He was out like a lamp a few hours later.

* * *

**A/N ***People who have the toy probably recognise the screwdriver that Kaullus is using. Personally I like to call it the Mk VI.5, simply because its clearly the Mk VI but beefed up a bit. There is a story behind that but I'm not telling. Spoilers and all that.

Review are good for the soul. Also good motivation. I might get all self conscious and not do more. You wouldn't want that would you?


	3. The Doctor

**A/N: **Okay, so then, this time it's all three of them in the same room. That's going to end well. A mad man with a box, a shop girl whose inquisitiveness gets her hanging from a barrage balloon, in the middle of the blitz, with the Union Flag across her chest, and a snarky, sarcastic dude who knows too much for his own good…proceed at your own discretion.  
None of this is mine, Kaullus is, bla bla bla. Steven Moffat is King, RTD's Daleks are cooler.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**The Doctor**

The next day he was up and about at 7:30. Unlike some people he knew, he was alright with early mornings. He didn't waste time with a big breakfast however and just grabbed an Actimel out of the fridge, downing it in one gulp. Figuring he had a bit of time before the Doctor was supposed to show up, he took his time with a shower then grabbed a clean set of black jeans and a grey V-neck T-shirt, along with his burgundy red button up shit which he left open. After a while of inspecting his ridiculously red hair – not ginger, _red – _he decided to tie it back, but leave a few whisps free to flock over his brow giving him a nice boyish tussled look. It exposed his ears – very long, very pointy, very _not human looking – _but the very low lever perception filter built into his coat made sure that no one really looked that close. Another look in the mirror and he nodded. He was ready to go.

He slipped his feet into the steel-reinforced boots and locked them in, then grabbed his black leather duster and slipped it on. A quick check that he had all his utilities (sonic, check; pistol holster, check; pistol in holster, check – Beretta this time) and then he was off and out the door. He was only out for a few seconds before his screwdriver's preset Nestene detecting setting started humming and he pulled it out.

_It's already here._

Quickly he reset the sonic to homing, and followed the vibrating signal. _Please let me not have missed them._

The humming was suddenly echoed by a gentler pitch and he looked up. And an exasperated smirk spread as he stared at the cropped fuzz staring through Rose's cat flap, poking his silver, blue tipped sonic through.

"I only speak for myself, but last I checked that doorway was for cats." He relished the look of surprise that coloured the Doctor's features as he stared up at him.

"What're you doin' here?" He demanded.

"Well," And Kaullus cracked his neck before he started, grinning at the grimace that streaked across the Time Lord's face, before ticking off on his hands just what he'd been up to "I was sleeping, but then I woke up. After that I had a quick breakfast, then a shower, got dressed, stepped out, then there's this weird signal flittin' about." He held out his sonic, "I was curious. What're _you _doing here?"

But the Doctor was staring at his sonic. "What's _that?"_ He asked pointing at the dark tool.

"Hmm, this?" Kaullus glanced at it, "It's my screwdriver."

"It's sonic."

"Yeah, I know. Cool isn't it?" He pressed the switch and listened to the hum. "And it's detecting an unusual level of Nestene activity in the area. Bit far from the hubbub of shop windows and modelling centres."

"Tha's not the point!" Ooh now the Doctor was getting angry, he got back to his feet and fixed Kaullus with one of his patented Oncoming Glares, "How the hell does a stupid ape have something as sophisticated as a -!"

"Mum, you're such a liar!" That caught Kaullus' attention and he immediately blocked the Doctor out, though it seemed he too had given up on him and was inspecting the catflap again. "I told you to nail that catflap down, we're gonna get strays."

"I did it weeks back!"

"No you thought about it!"

Tentatively, the Doctor gave the flap a whack. _Oh yeah, that's intelligent._ Kaullus rolled his eyes, but dropped down next to him, ignoring the annoyed grunt from the grumpy Time Lord. _Not a morning person this time round, are you? _This time the flap flicked outward, and it was all Kaullus had not to laugh at the sheer stupidness of the pair of them. _This _was how they met? _Well, never meet your heroes, Martha had that right. Except I don't have a choice._ Now the catflap was gingerly rising up and the Doctor poked his head down proper as a familiar hand pushed it up, and a pair of brown eyes stared back at the Doctor's blue, startling the pair of them. Kaullus just shook his head, chortling a little at the Doctor's indignant look.

The next second the door was being unhooked and the two of them were welcomed to a Rose with morning hair. Not a bad look per say, but Kaullus had seen her in better states. Of course neither of them knew that yet.

"Great," the Doctor muttered, eyeing his unwanted company, "first Mr Poet 'ere, now you. What're _you _doin' here?"

Her reply was just as indignant, "I live here."

"Well what'd you do that for?"

That got a glare out of her. "Because I do! I'm only at home because someone blew up my job. And who're you then?" Oh great, now she was fixing that look on him, that look that told him she wasn't just Pete Tyler's little girl. "One of his little followers?"

Any other time he'd make a pot and kettle joke, but for this Rose at this point in time she wouldn't get what he was on about. So Kaullus decided to go with plausible deniability. Hands up in defence, he stepped back a bit, "Hey, I'm just as curious with this bloke as you are." He stated, turning on his London accent "He nearly got me killed when he blew that Henrik's up."

"Oh so he's roundin' up witnesses is he?"

"Got me, luv." He shrugged for good measure, "I'm just lookin' for a little compensation."

"Oh shut up." Finally the Doctor returned to the conversation, having been inspecting his screwdriver. "Must've gotten the wrong signal, you're not plastic are you?" He gave her a sharp tap on the head, "Nope, Bonehead, what 'bout you?" The knock he gave Kaullus was a tad harder. "A pair of Boneheads. Well then, bye."

The grin that split Kaullus' face threatened to cut his head in half when the Doctor tried to leave. Rose had to practically drag him in by the scruff of his neck. From an onlooker it would look like…well…a woman has needs too. _No wonder they laughed about this. Hindsight and all that._

He didn't get much of a chance to laugh though as she pulled him in right after. "Whoa-ho, luv, there's a time and a place." He then made a big hassle of looking over his coat "You better not have stretched the leather. I love this coat. James Marsters gave me this coat. Got an autograph and everything."

"Oh trust you to be a Buffy fan." The Doctor muttered.

"Oi, don't knock 'em." Kaullus snapped right back, "Brilliant show. Great story writing…though I gotta wonder what Whedon was thinking, bringing Buffy back. Just end it with her dead I say, unexpected and powerful, that's how you oughta go."

"Anyway!" Both looked to the third member of their triangle who was staring between them as if she'd let in a couple of mad men…and she probably wasn't that far off about either of them.

"Who is it?" Jackie called from the room next to them and Kaullus practically froze. Jackie Tyler in her dressing gown…_Oooh no! NO! Not a good image! Bad, bad mind! Bad mind!_

Thankfully Rose poked her head through, saving him any need to look in and he dashed into the living room. He needed alcohol. Already. It was eight o' clock in the morning and he already needed brain bleach. Gah! Jackie Tyler in her dressing gown…_GAH! NO! Go away! Bad imagery! Think of someone else! River? No, she's like my sister! Amy? Married to a two thousand year old! Ugh, that's enough to put anyone off. Martha? Ends up with Mickey-the-Idiot-to-be. Not going there. OH why can't I think of anyone?! Nooo..nonono brain. Bad brain! Bad brain! We do not think about _her _that way! Agh and it's all going round in circles back to Jackie Tyler in her DRESSING GOWN!_

"Yes you are."

_Wait what? _He snapped back round to look at the Doctor.

"There's a strange man in my bedroom." Was that…? Did he hear that right? He couldn't have. It sounded like…like Jackie Tyler was _flirting _with the Doctor!

_Oh no! No! Worse thoughts! Get out! Need bleach! Lots and lots of bleach! Brain bleach. Need vodka, need rum. Need a goddamn memory eraser gun!_

"Yes…there is." No. No he did not just hear that! He wasn't...the Doctor wasn't! Kaullus dared to actually look at the expression on the Doctor's face…and wished he hadn't. It was that smile he'd seen used a dozen times on any number of women, Rose included. The twinkly eyed, come hither look. And he was using it on Jackie – the Inquisitor of Slappania – Tyler!

"Well anything could happen." Why had no one prepared him for this? His jaw was jutting open, it was just hanging there. He'd known Rose and the Doctor since the AD change over. They couldn't have told him about this? Couldn't have gotten him ready? They'd told him about the door bit, so why didn't they…

_Those…Evil…oh that's twisted. _

Sometimes Kaullus really hated causality loops. All this time he'd thought that…oh he was going to kill them for this.

"What's your problem?" He'd zoned out. The Doctor was staring at him with that mocking haughty look he'd seemed to have perfected in this incarnation. Desperately, he tried to get his jaw muscles to get working again and pulled them shut.

"Noth-nothing just…" but he quickly shut his brain off before it could wander. Shaking his head a bit, he straightened up and tried to regain his composure. "Forget it." And he quickly looked away.

"Oi!" Both looked back round at the living room, where Rose stood, hands on hips, staring at the pair of them. "Are you gonna ogle my mum all day or are you going to come in here?"

_AGH! BAD BRAIN! BAD WOLF! Oooh that's clever. _That thought alone got him back on track and Kaullus nodded. "Yeah right, right. I'm good. C'mon Doctor." Now it was him dragging the Doctor away before his mind turned to mush.

"Don't mind the mess. D'you want a coffee?"

"Might as well thanks." The Doctor replied shaking Kaullus off. "Just milk."

"Just tea for me." Kaullus called out. "Only drink coffee when I need to pull off something barmy."

Nodding at both requests, Rose disappeared into the kitchen, though she still called out to them whilst she worked. "We should go to the police." She suggested, "Seriously. All of us."

Meanwhile, the Doctor had decided to do what he did best, scour the house for everything and nothing. He started with the Heat magazine still open on the coffee table. "Huh, that won't last. He's gay and she's an alien."

Smirking Kaullus sat himself down in the armchair and picked up the folded up newspaper. Huh, no mention of last night on the front page. _Typical. _

"Sad ending." Glancing up, he saw the Doctor chuck a copy of _The Go-Between _on the empty chair. He just rolled his eyes and pulled out his sonic, checking the signal strength. Yep still here. No need to steal the Doctor's thunder though.

"I'm not blaming you," he heard from the kitchen "even if it was just some joke that went wrong." Oh Rose. What he wouldn't do sometimes. The past eighteen years had let him see Rose Tyler before she hooked up with the Doctor, and sometimes he wished he could keep her from running of with him…but then he may never have met the Doctor to begin with, he may never have become the man he was today. "They said on the news they'd found a body."

_Probably Wilson. _He thought to himself grimly, suddenly getting back onto his feet.

"All the same he was nice. A nice bloke."

Well he wouldn't know, he'd been too focussed on nearly damaging the timeline by changing their meeting. Never mind though, all going as planned so far. And the Doctor was inspecting her mail, "Rose Tyler."

"Rolls off the tongue doesn't it?" He didn't give the Doctor a chance to reply as he snatched the envelope out of his hand. "And what the hell was that?"

"Wha'?"

"That! Back there!" He pointed briskly back at Jackie's room. "That was…well…wrong springs to mind!"

"No 'arm in a little flirting, is there?"

Kaullus felt his jaw try to unhinge itself again…'no harm in…?' "I'll tell Jack you said that the next time I see him."

But the Doctor was already ignoring him again, staring at himself in the mirror and observing what had to be his new look. "Ahh, could've been worse…" though his reflection frowned when he prodded the two large protrusions on the sides of his head, "look at me' ears."

Rolling his eyes at the Doctor's preening, Kaullus tuned back into Rose whilst busying his hands with a deck of cards. "Luck be lady tonight." He whispered, catching the other way he could interpret that statement a second after he'd said it as he flicked the deck from one hand to another, shuffling them expertly. _Those years in Vegas were good for something I guess._

"Well anyway," Rose was saying over the kettle, "if we are going to the police, I wanna know what I'm saying. I want you to explain everything."

_Explain everything, eh? _He thought to himself ruefully as he tossed the deck to an amused looking Doctor. _How can I explain what even the two of you don't fully comprehend? Our timelines are all mixed up. For all I know the next time you see me you'll know more about me than I do again._ He was distracted from these thoughts as, when the Doctor tried to do a more impressive shuffling trick than he'd done, the whole deck scattered about the living room. "Well done there, mate." He muttered, going so far as to give him a sarcastic clap.

"Shut it." Any further altercation was cut off by a series of short taps on a wall, drawing both their attention to the armchair. "What's that then?" The Doctor asked, leaving the mess for Kaullus to pick up – which of course, he didn't. "You got a cat?"

"No. We did have, but now all we get are strays off the estate."

"Wait!" But Kaullus' warning fell on deaf ears, as the Doctor suddenly went rigid. Pulling back up, he staggered back a bit before turning around, showing the plastic arm that had wrapped its hand around his throat. He tried to fight it off for a few seconds before collapsing into the chair, still struggling with the vice grip the arm had on him.

Now it should be mentioned that, usually, Kaullus wasn't one to delay in helping out a friend in need. He was usually the first one in to neutralise a threat to a person's life. However, he was put off when Rose came back in, putting his tea on the chair and the Doctor's coffee in front of him. She took one look at the Doctor and huffed at him in annoyance. "I told Mickey to chuck that out." She groused, "You're all the same, give a man a plastic hand." And now, Kaullus was doing his best not to burst out laughing. This was too rich, the Doctor being choked to death and Rose, still little grasshopper Rose figured he was playing a prank. When did the Doctor ever pull pranks?

_Well, _he amended, _this Doctor anyway._

And Rose was still asking him questions, "Anyway, I don't even know your name, Doctor…what was it?"

He really should help. He really, really should. But the surrealism just kept him frozen on the spot as he tried not to crack up and collapse on the floor.

"And you?" Oops, she was looking his way. "What's your story? You one of those students or whoever they were, playing around down there?" She had her hands on her hips looking all business like, though the look was sort of ruined when you wearing slacks and a grey sleeveless shirt. Anyway, Kaullus was too busy holding his breath, likely turning a bit red like the Doctor was right now.

So he sent a quite 'thank God' when the Doctor finally managed to get the arm off of him, giving both of them a chance to breathe. But of course, Rose had to look around at the Doctor as he did so, and as Sod's Law seemed to go into overdrive whenever the two of them were in the same room, of course the plastic arm turned to focus on her, latching itself onto her face and eliciting a horrified scream out of her. Suddenly all joviality was out of his system and, as the Doctor lunged up off the chair, Kaullus was already tugging at the arm, trying to pull it off.

"Doctor, get behind her!" He didn't have time for secrecy now, it might as well have gone out the window when he showed the sonic to him anyway. Right now all he cared about was getting the threat to his friend as far away from her as he could. To his surprise, the Doctor complied and got around behind her, with the coffee table behind him. "Right grab hold of Rose and keep her steady" again he did as he was ordered, grabbing her by the hips. "Now pull!"

The arm put up a fight that was for sure, and Kaullus' work was further impaired by Rose's scrambling hands as she tried to pull the arm off herself. Still he got a proper grip and started pulling. The combined efforts of two pulling forces paid off and the hand came off with a pop. The Doctor however suddenly had his hands full of a flustered human and suddenly found himself tripping up and falling back onto the coffee table, shattering it on impact. Kaullus himself went flying back as the arm tried now to get at him, needing both hands to hold it back, he couldn't use the sonic to disable it.

A moment later the Doctor was at his side, flicking his own sonic on. "Give it here!" With one tug, he snatched the arm away and stuck the screwdriver's emitter right on the plastic menace. Like before in Henrik's the arm slowly came to a sputtering halt and then froze up completely. "There we go." He chucked the now dead appendage to Kaullus "'Armless."

Kaullus stared at the arm, then at the Doctor with a wry smirk. "Yeah, you better put that on the list of words you'll never say again." Not giving him a chance to start up with the questioning, he tossed the arm back to him and bent down next to Rose who was still catching her breath. "You alright?"

"What the hell just happened?" Well of course that was the first thing out of her mouth, as always, asking questions. "Did I just get throttled by a dummy's arm? A _plastic_ dummy's arm?!"

"Believe me, that's one of the less weird things out there." He assured her as he help her back onto her feet. "Isn't that right Doctor?"

No response.

"Doctor?" Kaullus flicked around, for the first time noticing the sound of a hairdryer coming from Jackie's room, and noted the lack of a big-eared, leather jacket wearing alien, and one plastic potentially murderous arm. "Oh that sneaky, conniving piece of…! Later Rose!" And with that he was off, darting through the open door and charging after the Doctor.

Thankfully, said Doctor wasn't too far away, just walking briskly. Kaullus would have counted down if he didn't think that Rose was already grabbing a hoodie and her shoes, ready to chase after them. Seeing as he knew her way too well though, he wasn't at all surprised when he heard her lighter footsteps just a shade behind him, and her voice ordering him to 'hold up a mo!' He slowed down, though the Doctor showed no such inclination and so now both were chasing after him, catching up with him quickly.

"You can't just go swanning off!" Rose snapped at him as they made their way down the stairwell, the Doctor about two steps ahead of them.

The Doctor's response was, of course, aloof with a side of arrogance, "Yes I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off. See ya!" And rude. Always rude, very rude in this particular body regardless what he might have claimed later…_or is that earlier? _ And it was clear from the look on Rose's face that she was starting to get frustrated by his in-again out-again…ness. Considering how last night must have gone for her, Kaullus couldn't really blame her for wanting answers. She was as bad as Satellite Ears here.

"That arm was moving," she tried again "it tried to kill me!"

"Ten out of ten for observation." Was his nonchalant reply as he started on another set of stairs, with the two of them seconds behind.

"You can't just walk away, that's not fair!"

_Oooh. _Kaullus winced at that _And there's her inexperience showing again. _Again he kicked himself for getting so used to a Rose Tyler who was comfortable around all of this, who knew exactly what to say when in a situation like this. She wasn't there yet, still coming to grips with the reality of her world, having the blinders taken off. Nevertheless he kept mum and continued listening in.

"You've gotta tell me what's going on." She pressed again, not breaking stride as the Doctor pushed his way out of the estate building, not waiting for anything.

"No I don't." He replied easily.

"Okay," Kaullus finally broke in as he looked between the two "am I the only one who feels like he's watching a tennis match?" The weirdness of his question was enough to halt the Doctor and Rose both, and they just stared at him, Rose with a classic 'what?' face, and the Doctor's one that clearly screamed 'were you smacked around the head one too many times as a kid?' He couldn't help it though, whilst they'd been arguing, his head had been flipping between the two, trying to gauge the sort of situation he might be faced with later. Unfortunately, with the Doctor ahead, Rose behind, and him in the middle, Kaullus had been spinning his head around as they spoke and his neck was starting to get a bit sore.

Getting over his stupor first, the Doctor snorted in irritation before carrying on. That set off Rose again and she was right by his side in an instant. Sighing to himself, Kaullus jogged to catch up and fell into step on Rose's left. He glanced at her and repressed the proud smile as he noted the look in her eyes, that calculating look that just spoke to how clever she really was as she pieced together what information she did have to try and get more.

"Okay then," she shrugged at last, with a look of fake carelessness, "I'll go to the police, I'll tell everyone." And now Kaullus repressed a groan; that was exactly _not_ the way to go to get the Doctor to talk to you. But to be fair she didn't know that, which was why she was carrying on. "Now you said if I did that'd get people killed, so, your choice." He wanted to beat his head on a wall when he saw her satisfied smile – one that he was used to seeing when she one-upped the Time Lord. This was not going to be one of those times, he knew as she finished off confidently, "Tell me, or I'll start talking."

"Is that supposed to sound tough?" The Doctor replied, glancing at her with…was that interest? Amusement to be sure, but that was definitely interest as well.

"Well, be fair, she's had a rough day." Kaullus found himself pointing out, and immediately winced when he got a 'mind your own business' stare from Rose. One thing he hated about this gig; for now he had to play the stupid card until some undisclosed moment. Whenever that could be was beyond him but apparently he'd know when to come out about it all. "And anyway, there's at least one dead man out there. Don't you want to make sure no one else ends up like that?"

"Oh so it's the guilt card!" The Doctor grinned at them both patronisingly before he stated quite bluntly "Doesn't work."

The heavy sigh from Rose told exactly how tired she was getting of beating around the bush, and so Kaullus wasn't at all surprised by her next question. "Who are you?"

"Told you" he replied as easily as ever, never breaking stride "the Doctor."

"Yeah but, Doctor what?"

"Just the Doctor" was his immediate cheerful reply, and there was a start of that familiar smug grin that Kaullus often felt the desire to punch off.

And it was clear that Rose was not at all sated by that answer in any way whatsoever. "The Doctor?" She repeated, not buying it for a minute.

His reply was to use the plastic arm that had been pretty much forgotten as his greeting and he waved it at them comically. "Hello!" Thrown in for good measure.

But that just made Kaullus smirk at him, not at all falling for the charm routine. "Your ego knows no bounds, does it 'Doctor?'" And his smirk only grew as he watched the Doctor's fade, his own ego finding some gratification of getting one over the Time Lord.

However he broke eye contact when those piercing blue eyes came to focus on him. The Doctor was clearly becoming intrigued with him. "You talk as if you've gone through this before."

"Oh, well, y'know," Kaullus shrugged, "you meet one big-headed show off you've met them all." Again he smiled as the Doctor's affronted look returned to the forefront.

"'S not big-headed if it's true." He muttered, most likely to himself.

"And I rest my case."

"Blimey, you two can compare sizes later, alright!" They'd momentarily forgotten the third member of their little posse who'd been caught in the middle of their little chat. She was glaring at the pair of them, as if their treatment of the situation as some hilarious joke was deplorable. Feeling suitably cowed, Kaullus ducked his head away – blimey one little human girl, barely ready for time travel yet and already she was wrapping him around her little finger all over again. The Doctor however showed no such restraint as he just sniffed indignantly and carried on forwards, man on a mission and all that.

But Rose wasn't one to be blown off, "Now listen, you can tell me. I've seen enough." She tried again, and Kaullus noted how her tone had become more gentle with the Doctor, trying another approach. "Are you the police?" She asked eyeing his choice in clothing.

Both Kaullus and the Doctor snorted out loud. "No!" They stated together, much to the Doctor's interest. However he put it aside for the moment, in order to give Rose at least a partial answer. "I was just…passing through, I'm a long way from home."

"But what have I done wrong?" She pressed on, of course missing the significance of his statement for what it actually meant, focusing on the now, the immediate. "How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?"

"Oh suddenly the whole world revolves around you!" The Doctor snapped, his tone that same mocking awe as ever. "You were just an accident, the pair of you, getting in the way."

_Well if that's the way you're gonna thank me for making your job easier. _Kaullus wanted to snark in response, but never got the chance as Rose got there first. "It tried to kill me!" She protested, clearly indicating the faint marks around her face where the plastic hand had latched on. "And I dunno 'bout you." She indicated Kaullus, "But I'm betting that what it was trying to do to you when you pulled it off me. So come on," and looking at her, Kaullus just knew she wanted to shove the Doctor…maybe if she had that cane from 1869, "what's it got against me?"

"It was after me, not you!" He finally retorted, hands flying about, all three of them. "Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in – almost ruined the whole thing. And as for you," he pointed at Kaullus, "I dunno what you thought you were doin' down there but you clearly had no idea what you were gettin' into."

In response Kaullus chortled, "And you did?" He asked sarcastically. "The number of times you've actually had a plan in these situations comes to a grand total of zero, Mr Impressive, so don't try that line with me."

"Keep on tellin' yourself that, mate." The Doctor shrugged, as if Kaullus' insight was completely irrelevant, "Fact of the matter is, I had a plan and you two nearly sent it spiralling out of control. Then, this morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down" He held 'it' up in all its plastic glory, waving it once or twice, before pointing at himself all pomp and central, "the only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you met me."

"So," Rose concluded for him "what you're saying is the whole world revolves around you."

"Sort of, yeah." He responded, proud, arrogant, and oh so sure of his own superiority. Oh Kaullus wanted to punch him again.

"What did I tell you?" He settled for, nudging Rose and indicating the smug Doctor, "Absolutely, one hundred percent, no question about it, full of himself."

"Sort of, yeah" The Doctor nodded again, smirking away, clearly not fully listening to them but assuming Kaullus had said something flattering about him.

That wasn't enough to deter Rose though, if anything – to Kaullus' delight – it pushed her forwards to find out more, "But all this plastic stuff," she stressed, urging both to get back onto the subject they should have been talking about but the Doctor was determined not to go into, and Kaullus was basking too much to give the thought all that much detail, "who else knows about it?"

"No one."

"Bullshit." The Doctor halted at Kaullus' flat statement, nearly causing Rose, who had levitated more towards him, to crash into him, and stared at him incredulously. Kaullus in return just shrugged, "I knew. Hell I've been waiting for something to happen for a while now, you have no idea how dull it gets around here. Then I got some weird readings around the area on this thing," he pulled out his sonic, taking a moment to scan the hand again in case of remaining activity – which there wasn't – before continuing, "and I figured 'why not? Where there's trouble there's the Doctor.' I've been waiting for you." His next statement was genuinely without mockery or sarcasm. "And it is really good to see you again, Doctor."

"What d'you mean 'again?'" Rose asked, sharp as ever, picking up his wording. "You said you didn't know him."

"No I didn't, I said I was curious 'bout what he was up to." He shrugged before addressing the Doctor. "Things tend to blow up around you. You're not as hard to find as you like to pretend you are."

"Then tell me this, Tahkaullus Neuvo." Oh…full name, that was either really good, really bad, or somewhere in the middle. Judging by the way the Doctor was folding his arms and staring at him intently, he'd have to say it was option number three. "Why have I never seen you around before?"

"Because you weren't looking for me." Hey, the Doctor wasn't the only one who could evade questions. "Besides, who says you need to tackle every situation on your own anyway?" And now it was his turn to stare at the Doctor intently, hands in pockets, coat pulled back by straightened shoulders and his own stormy blue eyes cutting away at the Doctor's own gaze.

Finally the Doctor relented, resuming his walk but still taking the time to answer the question, "Who else is there?" He demanded, not turning around, "I mean you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you there's a war going on!"

_Well…he's actually got me there. _If he was honest, the human race wasn't Kaullus' number one species on planet Earth. They did have a tendency to look the other way when all sorts of crap was going on, and he'd often ranted about that kind of ignorance time and again to anyone who'd listen. Much like the Doctor was doing now.

So it was up to Rose to get them back onto task by taking the plastic hand off the Doctor. "Okay then," she said again, level and firm, "start from the beginning. If you're gonna go with this living plastic thing, and I don't even believe that mind you," even an idiot could hear the forced attempt to convince everyone – herself included – of that statement, "but if we do…" she bobbed the arm about, but kept it a good way away, just in case it decided to come back to life again, "how'd you kill it?"

The Doctor regarded the pair of them sharply; Rose seemed to be the really inquisitive one, staring at him in askance of just what the hell had happened to her today, Kaullus however stood more relaxed, comfortable in everything that was going on, as if he did this all the time. He could likely answer the question poised, yet he chose not to. Sighing in reluctance, he relented and answered. "The thing that's controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal" he tapped the arm sharply, "dead."

"So that's radio control."

"_Thought _control." Kaullus corrected easily, "Far more complex and far more powerful."

"How'd you know that?" The Doctor asked casually, though from his look he was anything but.

He just shrugged and carried on walking, turning onto the road with them, hands still in pockets. "Run into the Autons enough times, you learn a few things." Glancing at the Doctor's recognition of the name, Kaullus knew he had him listening, "Nevertheless that doesn't make me an expert on them, I just know a bit more than most."

The silence that followed was decidedly tense, Kaullus just knowing the Doctor was studying him, trying to figure out just who the hell he was. _At least he's not standing three inches away from me, scanning my face. Bow-Tie boy had that down pat. How Amy deals with him is still beyond me._ He finally managed to divert attention by glancing at Rose to see how she was taking it all. Going by the pale shock and the slightly open mouth, he could figure she was drawing up a rather accurate idea as to what was behind the thought-controlled plastic arm of death. And it was freaking her out.

"You alright?" He asked for the second time in as many minutes.

She must have zoned out, because she suddenly shook herself before replying, "Yeah." And then she refocused on the Doctor "So who's controlling it?"

"Long story"

"Because of course, that's going to work." Kaullus muttered.

"But what's it all for?" Rose pushed on, ignoring both of them. "I mean shop window dummies…what's that about?" Then a wry smile suddenly blossomed, "Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?"

That got identical snorts out of the Doctor and Kaullus, and finally a short giggle out of her.

"No." The Doctor said flatly shortly after, before his own mirthful grin took over and he couldn't resist his own comment. "It's not a price war!" And this time all three of them openly laughed.

"I dunno," Kaullus added, smiling like a loon, "I hear you shouldn't put Zara and H&M shop girls in the same room. Bad things tend to happen if they see each other." This time only he and the Doctor snickered, though he could've sworn he heard Rose mutter 'men' under her breath.

"Not this lot though," the Doctor continued, losing his mirth in seconds, to be replaced by a steely calm, "they wanna overthrow the human race and destroy you." His words were directed at Rose, and, Kaullus noted, he was completely ignoring him now. "D'you believe me?"

"No." She answered immediately, even though it was clear to both present that she kinda, sorta, did.

_Such is the power of the Doctor. _Kaullus thought to himself.

Said Doctor smirked, "But you're still listening." He pointed out before strolling away, knowing he'd caught her out. As for Kaullus, he just rolled his eyes at the Doctor's retreating form and stepped back, waiting. Someone would say something sooner or later, he just needed to be patient. Even then, he could see the TARDIS just on the other side of the road so if anyone was going to say anything, it would have to be soon.

Thankfully it didn't take long before Rose bit and called out to him "Really though, Doctor. Who are you?"

The Doctor halted again and stared back at them one last time, and this time he seemed to be really taking them both in, eyeing Rose's confusion and questioning gaze, and Kaullus' knowing look that said he already knew the answer but wanted to know what he would do next. At last, he smiled slightly. "Do you know like we were saying? 'Bout the Earth revolving?" Even as he asked the question he had walked back up to her, looming over Rose like some giant being, "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still."

If he thought Kaullus didn't catch the glance he sent his way, neither said anything about it, and so the Doctor focussed on Rose. "I can feel it. The turn of the Earth," And before she had a chance to question him, he'd taken hold of her hand in that way that Kaullus had so often seen before, but the intensity in his eyes was something he'd rarely seen before. The nature of a Time Lord, even now was a mystery to him.

"The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven miles an hour, and I can _feel _it."

He didn't know it was a psychic backflow, or just his imagination, but Kaullus could swear that the wind stopped blowing, or he stopped feeling, or something. It had been a long time since he'd actually stretched out and felt the ground beneath his feet, suddenly it felt less safe, less certain. Looking at Rose told him all he needed to know: She was feeling it ten times stronger than him; and the Doctor a hundred times more. Even his voice which always seemed so commanding in this body seemed to hush and become…tiny.

"We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world and if we let go…" and suddenly everything was thrown into sharp relief. Gravity felt real again, and Kaullus suddenly felt very, _very_ heavy. He almost missed the tiny gasp from Rose as she came plummeting back down to Earth. Their hands were free of each other again.

The Doctor was speaking again, also fully back in control of himself. "That's who I am. Now forget me Rose Tyler. And as for you Mr Poet," Kaullus nearly growled at the nickname, "whoever, or whatever you are, stop following me around." He took the plastic arm back from the still dazed Rose and waved it in front of them, "Both of you, go home."

With that, he turned away and strode of across the road towards the TARDIS, completely oblivious to anything he might have just done. If it had been anyone else, that little trick might have worked in scaring them off, and looking at Rose, Kaullus could see a hidden fear…but not the bad kind of fear. More like the fear of adventure right at the start that gives way to exhilaration. And Kaullus?

"He thinks he's so cool when he does that." He muttered in exasperation to no one. And with that he strode off in another direction. There wouldn't be much to do until late evening.

He didn't even look around when the wind began to pick up, nor when he felt the hum of the TARDIS quiver up his spine. Not for a second did he think about turning around to stare in awe as that little blue box, old and new at the same time, disappeared into the time vortex, the Doctor hoping to find the Consciousness with just the arm. Of course it wouldn't be that simple, which he would soon find out. For Tahkaullus this was nothing new. After two thousand years of coming across that ship, nothing about the Doctor surprised him anymore.

When he finally did look back, he was pleased to see her staring across the road at where that strange blue box, and by extension the Doctor, had been only a few seconds before.

_I'll be seeing you later Rose. _He thought to himself silently, before pressing a finger to his ear, activating his surgically implanted comlink. "Eye, Guardian calling. Better tell Spike to take my calls this evening. I'm going to be busy tonight."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, that's chapter two done. Rose is asking questions, the Doctor's being...himself, and Kaullus isn't helping anyone because he loves to watch them sweat. What a dick. Anyway, 'cos I know people are going to ask from that last bit, No Kaullus is NOT a Time Lord, I cannot stress this enough. He's not human either of course, I guess the best thing I can call him for now is 'Something New.'  
As for the lack of plot divergence, there really wasn't much I could change because it really is an important scene, at least I think, for Rose and the Doctor and it really sort of sets the status quo. Kaullus right now is a bit of a red herring, of course the Doctor doesn't trust him for toffee right now, and Rose doesn't know what to make of anything yet. That will change, but it won't be like a snap of the fingers. A real building of a relationship, be it platonic or romantic, takes time and that's what I'm going for. A real relationship between all three of them. Or...as real as the Whoniverse will allow.


	4. The Underworld

**A/N:** Okay, this one's a bit more original fiction, still tied into the story but I wanted to flesh out exactly what Kaullus does when he isn't looking around for the Doctor. The Time Lord isn't the be all end all for him, just another part of his life. This though, this is his creme de la creme.  
Don't own Doctor Who, never will. Willing to pay for anyone who will steal the rights and give them to me.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**The Underworld**

Something that Kaullus would forever be proud of was his Underworld, the ultimate triumph over the surface world. Kept secret even from the Doctor, it was the one thing that he could never, and likely would never, tell him about. It wasn't that he didn't trust him, he just didn't know if he trusted him enough. The Underworld had survived as long as it had through secrecy and strict discipline. Very few were allowed 'upstairs' as most people of the Underworld called it; to go up there you needed to have the absolute trust, not only of your peers, but of Kaullus as well. If he thought you couldn't handle going upstairs without blowing your cover then you were never going to go up there.

And for those who questioned why Kaullus had so much say, he would respond with 'I built this world, I won't have you be the one to bring it crashing down.' For all his confidence, and pride, Kaullus always feared discovery by the surface. Humans, by their nature, feared anything that was different from themselves, shown in the multiple witch trials over the centuries – hell they still existed to this day! – which had resulted in the magical folk of the world hiding their society from non-magical eyes, decreeing a statute of secrecy that must never be broken. Kaullus operated the Underworld much the same way, however the people he housed in these huge underground cities were more than just humans who could harness psionic energy. Thousands of years ago, there had been hundreds of sentient species on Earth – or Terra, as it was known back then – until a Purge that lasted nearly five thousand years brought them to the brink of extinction, allowing the humans to rise in number, hunting down anything that wasn't human too. For millennia Kaullus had done nothing about it, believing they were all lost to the also lost history books of Terra. It was just earth now, and so that became the planet's new name.

Then, Tahkaullus Neuvo met The Doctor and Rose Tyler, and everything changed.

For nearly fifteen hundred years after that he started seeking out the survivors, the races that had managed to rebuild their population in secret. And then, six hundred years ago in America shortly before the colonists from Europe arrived, Kaullus and members of fifty other races, of which, ironically, humanity was one, began construction of the largest underground city that ever had existed or ever would exist. More than once they were almost caught, especially when the pious zealots of Europe began moving further inland. The fear of discovery developed from these near misses caused a hardening of their hearts and furthered their technological advancement. A century after they started, the first true Underworld society was born, their efforts moving their technology forward a good century or so ahead of anything in use by the Surfacers.

The next step was figuring out how to defend their society. And that was when Kaullus created the Elite Corps. Of course that wasn't the name they started with, but after the death of their first member, whose alias happened to translate out as 'elite', they renamed themselves in her honour. Over the next three centuries the Underworld expanded outwards, spreading to all areas of the continents of North and South America, and then agents of the Underworld crossed the Atlantic east to Europe, whilst others went west to the Asian continent. By the time the 1800s came along, there were three Underworlds – the Asian and European societies met in the mid-1700s, whilst another group split off to start work on the African Underworld. By the early twentieth century even Australia had its own secret nation.

And now, in the early twenty-first century, almost the entire planet was united. It just wasn't on the surface. You literally had to dig deep to find the union.

Or if you were a citizen of the Underworld, an Elite to be exact, who had clearance to be topside, and were now heading home – so, if you were Tahkaullus Neuvo – all you needed to know was where the door was. When it came to Under-London, Kaullus needed to take a taxi to Westminster. A little trick that he'd picked up from his very long life and that he implemented especially when it came to hiding entrances to the Underworld was to hide it somewhere that everyone expected him to hide it. It worked because no one ever expected you to hide a secret in such a well-known place.

Because honestly, who's going to look for the door to a secret super-nation in the Houses of Parliament? Well actually it wasn't in the Houses of Parliament, even he wasn't that mad. The actual door was hidden in St Margaret's Church across the road, but it was always good to have a cover story. Declared exempt of the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1222, and kept as such when Liz re-founded Westminster Abbey in 1560, it was the perfect place to install an entrance to London's branch of the Underworld in Great Britain. All they needed to do was make sure that the people who actually dwelt there, or at least more than half of them, were their people. People tend to think that large crowds attract attention. This couldn't be further from the truth, especially in Universities. In places like that it was every man for himself. So the Underworld operatives were mostly left alone as they built the underground tunnels and fitted a lift in the church's tower.

Since then the lift had been refitted, and one time changed out for a completely new model, as new technology came into use but the location was still the same: Right beneath the bells.

Now he had to summon the lift. There wasn't a button for him to push, but this was the Underworld and Kaullus was too paranoid to do things that way anyway. Instead he activated his comm. "Eye, Guardian here. Requesting entrance to section ENG-001."

"_Just a moment, Guardian." _He heard a second later_ "Transferring request….alright Guardian, please state your Name, Alias, Rank and Serial for clearance."_

"Understood; Tahkaullus Neuvo, Codename: Guardian, Elite Status Level Ten, Registration Alpha-Omega One."

"_Processing." _There was a pause as his information was sent through the system's database and transferred to the lift controls. _"Identification confirmed, good to have you back with us Kaullus. The lift should be up in a few minutes."_

True to the operator's words, a few minutes later the ground beneath Kaullus' feet began to vibrate and he stepped back. The floor he'd been standing on split open and outwards, and a silver metallic box lifted out of the ground. But still, this wasn't the final procedure as a slot in the middle of the side facing Kaullus flipped up and a pale blue light flared out, running up to Kaullus' head and then scanning his entire body right down to the tip of his boots. The scanner then lifted back up to his face and halted, checking his retina.

Finally, an artificial voice activated, "Size and retina identification approved," it drone lightly "welcome home Elite Guardian." Then the camera slot came back down and the silver doors opened, granting him admittance.

'_Welcome home…' _Kaullus repeated in his head as he stepped inside, the doors closing shut behind him. _If anywhere is home, I guess that would be here wouldn't it?_ He didn't receive a response, nor did he expect one. His head had been rather silent for the last few years, nothing of major importance happening meant he needn't think as much as he usually did. Then again though, with the Doctor back, he might need to start up that brain of his again rather soon. _And won't that be a bit of fun? _Again that touch of glee found its way up his spine as he considered just what sort of mischief he'd be getting into likely in a few hours' time.

_Then again, it's Satellite Ears this time. _He grimaced a bit, remembering 1987 when he'd had to give up some crucial information to get this Doctor off his back. Pinstripes and Bow-Tie Boy had never been nearly as pressing, though Pinstripes had given the odd nudge here and there. Still, on the other hand, this was a pivotal moment, not just for him, but for the Doctor himself. From this point in the Time Lord's timeline, he'd just come belly-end out of the Time War and was still reeling from his actions…whatever they might have been. Fortunately, for him and for Kaullus, he'd landed on exactly the right planet to help him and crossed paths with exactly the right person to _heal _him. Now it was just a matter of watching how it played out from here.

_That doesn't mean, however, that I can't get a front row seat to it all. _Kaullus reminded himself with a bit of glee as he stepped out of the lift and into the barracks of the Elite Corps, to his right he saw the two-way glass wall where the whole city of Under-London stretched out beyond and around this single area. Civilians notably glanced his way and some of the youngsters who caught sight of him waved at him, and he waved back with a warm smile yet didn't stop walking. He passed a few of his younger Elites who stood to attention almost immediately when they saw him coming their way, he just rolled his eyes at them and patted them on the back, telling them to relax. He then turned down a larger corridor and halted outside another door marked with an Eye of Horus.

_Gotta remember to have the decorators change that._

Rolling his eyes again, Kaullus pressed his thumb to a plate on the wall to the left. After a second the doors slid open and he stepped into a huge room filled with screens. He winced a bit at the flare and quickly pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his coat. This wasn't a bit of vanity, when The Elites went digital the early operators of the Eye Network nearly went blind due to so many sources of light hitting their eyes at once. Even now it was standard practise to wear retinal shielding when working inside an Eye room, as the twenty or so operators that were typing on holographic keyboards, or scanning through five touchscreens each, or talking through their headsets to Elites in the London area were all wearing blacked out visors.

Once Kaullus was acclimatised to the lighting, he made his way to an operator working on a CCTV feed. "What've you got for me Nina?"

"Standard day so far, Kaullus." She replied shortly, not looking up from her screen as he leaned down next to her. "She headed back to the estate after you and the Doctor left. By the looks of it though she's been over to Mr Smith's again."

"Mr Sm…" Kaullus winced, "Nina, do me a favour. Never call Mickey 'Mr Smith' ever again please." He didn't miss the small smile on her face as he pulled back up. "Anyway, onto other business. Jethro! What's the report from the House of Commons?"

"Same as ever. The Tories are moaning, Labour is groaning, and the Lib Dems are still a joke."

"Anything a bit more substantial?"

"…Tony Blair's even less popular than before?"

Sighing, Kaullus briefly wondered for the thousandth time why they even bothered listening in on the Parties of Britain, none of them seemed to actually get anything important done. The only thing that had really been of use to them in the last couple of years was when the Prime Minister sent the British Army into Iraq, a culmination of events starting with the eleventh of September, 2001, and finally spilling out at last in 2003.

Getting back on track he started again, "Never mind then. Jax! What's the word from British Intelligence?"

"Still going on about WMD's in the East. Seriously who's running this nation anyway? The British or the Americans?"

"Lani! Status on Callaghan."

"Dead." She called back to him. "He passed away this morning."

That gave him pause. James Callaghan had been one of the few Prime Ministers that he'd ever called friend, up there with Churchill. He'd adored the man's wife Audrey, always finding a Yorkshire pudding waiting for him when he stayed over in Downing Street and even after James was voted out by Thatcher's goons, Kaullus had stayed in contact with the Callaghan family, becoming something of an adopted son to their eldest daughter Margaret.

"Drop them a line." He told Lani. "Tell Marge I'll be there for the funeral."

"Will do."

"Anyway, where were we? Alex! What's the talk on –?" He didn't get to finish though, he was suddenly interrupted by a loud klaxon, the lighting suddenly flashing from the flaring blue-white to an ominous mauve. Turning his attention to the nearest operator he dashed to his side and leaned over, "What's the commotion Nev? We already sighted the TARDIS. Why's it blaring again?"

"Just a sec…" Nev muttered, flicking several screens by, looking for the source of commotion. "It's a local thing by the look of it…nothing government based, and it's not military. I'd say it's a civilian."

"Hang on…" Kaullus leaned over and flicked off of the multiple screens in front of him and brought up a new one. However, instead of going into their usual database and looking through streams of cameras or looking up any Elites in the fields, he brought up the Eye's internet interface. "Right, local means basic…so…" He hit a few commands on the keyboard, and the screen became static for a moment before rebooting, "there, someone's looking up the Doctor."

Sure enough, on the screen was a basic web search bar with the word 'Doctor' typed in. The results were too wide a result though to be anything troubling, so Kaullus had to wonder why the system was reacting. Then the search was emptied and replaced with the query 'Doctor Living Plastic.' Even though the search again proved less than useful, Kaullus already had all he needed to figure out why the system was activating. Leaving Nev behind, he dashed back over to Nina.

"It's Rose, she must be using Mickey's computer."

Nina didn't respond, she just turned off her CCTV observation and turned on her Internet hacking interface. A moment later she had the same search bar as Kaullus had called up on Nev's screen and they were looking at a new query: 'Doctor Blue Box.'

"Crap."

"What's so bad about that?" Nina asked, frowning in confusion. "Isn't this what should happen?"

Kaullus shook his head, "The Doctor's always on about how time is in flux. This meeting could already be different to how it might have gone. Now think on this Nina," he turned to face her, "if we were able to catch Rose looking up information on the Doctor, what's the bet that the Nestene Consciousness knows about this as well?"

"Still not getting it."

"If the Nestene cottons on that Rose knows about the Doctor, it could conclude that she's familiar with him and send a drone to gather information and then…" his stare went from serious to grim, "after its got all it needs, the drone would be instructed to dispose of her." Feeling a headache come on, he leaned back and rubbed his temples, "If that happens that's two thousand years of my history getting a rewrite and I rather like my history as it is." Leaving her with that little piece of information to chew on, he dashed back to the centre of the room and started firing off commands.

"Get a direct feed on Michael Smith's computer, I wanna know exactly what Rose is looking at when she's looking at it. Furthermore, get a visual on her, she's just become the Nestene's number two target, right behind the Doctor. Get a call down to transport; I'm gonna be taking the Aston out for a spin. And finally," he noted that a few of them had stopped working and were now looking at him as he paused dramatically before finishing, "someone get me a coffee, there be barminess ahead."

* * *

Kaullus was more right than he knew, though the barminess didn't really start for another few hours giving him a chance to get a bite to eat. He, and practically every Elite in the Underworld, preferred to eat in the city, so he left his gear, save his coat and sonic, in the barracks and went down to a favourite restaurant of his. After that, he headed back to the barracks and changed out of his civilian outfit into his Elite uniform. Designed to blend in with the crowd on the surface, you couldn't really tell if he'd changed clothes. However his new trousers were made out of a smart material more resistant to knives and small munitions, and the T-shirt he now had on could probably resist a shotgun shell, and that was if it got through the zip-up jacket he now had on over that which he wore open. He'd added a standard issue utility belt as well that had practically everything a paramilitary soldier needed, from spare magazines to field dressings. Even his footwear was different; though at first glance they looked like biker boots, the covering was made out of a titanium alloy designed to protect against stray bullets (it was also useful if you wanted to end a man's chances of reproduction). About the only thing he hadn't replaced was his coat. He loved his coat.

After his wardrobe change, he rearmed himself, adding a kukri which he slotted in the sheath on the back of his left boot and fastening a gauntlet on each arm over his jacket's sleeves, both of which had concealed blades that sprang out when activated.

With all of this taken care of, he flung his coat back on and returned to the Eye, immediately ordering a sit-rep. Rose had found a fansite…well actually it was one of the more accurate 'conspiracy-nut' sites but there wasn't a polite word for them so 'fansite' had to suffice. He recognised the picture on the website immediately, how couldn't he? He was in it as well on the first row, arms folded. It was just the Doctor's head, enhanced and cropped to contain only him, but Kaullus had a copy of the image on record. The Kennedy Assassination had been unexpected, though it was obviously clear that the Doctor wanted to have a look for himself.

_Getting some closure maybe? Trying to find something that put his own war in perspective? _He couldn't know for sure because this was one of the times that he hadn't spotted the Doctor until he tracked down the image himself. _Never mind that now._

"Has she gotten in contact with the admin?"

"Half an hour ago" Nina replied, bringing up a record of the emails between Rose and…Clive, "Basic introductions, followed by a few questions about everyone's favourite topic today." She rolled her eyes at Kaullus fondly as he sat down next to her. "She's asked him if he has any more information about the Doctor, and he apparently does, though he can't send it to her. If she wants it she'll have to go to him."

Raising an eyebrow, Kaullus couldn't resist a smirk. "He doesn't want to just send a scan to her? What, is he scared someone's going to intercept him or something?"

"I know," Nina nodded, mimicking his astounded tone, "it's as if he thinks someone's spying on him." She shook her head and typed a few commands on her keyboard, bringing up the next set of messages. "Anyway, he's said it wouldn't be an intrusion for her to come over and have a look. She's said she'll come over some time after lunch and…."

"And it's after lunch now." Before Nina knew it, he'd jumped back onto his feet and was practically gliding out of the Eye.

Kaullus, as a rule, didn't run in the Elite Corps barracks. Everything he needed, and everywhere he needed to go, was always in close proximity to him. Running therefore just wasted energy. He did however walk briskly out of the intelligence sector of the barracks, making his way down several large corridors, passing through several sectors including, but not limited to, weapons testing (the Dalek remains from 1929 had boosted their fire power to stupidly brilliant levels), experimental designs (where the suits of abandoned Cybermen had found a new home), vehicle testing (if you're gonna fly, why not nick the tech from Roswell?), and quantum defence (those stone angel things still freaked him out). He finally entered a sector at the very end of the barracks, labelled 'ground tactical resources' which, though it sounded all important and a surface would probably mistake it for something militaristic, really translated in the Underworld into 'garage.'

True to its name, ground tactical was full to the brim with cars that they'd built, stolen and adapted, or confiscated from enemy factions. The majority of vehicles were based around the supercar franchise; Ferraris, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Maserati's, even an adapted Ford GT that they'd nicked when Clarkson wasn't looking. Appreciative to look at, they made the perfect cover for covert operation. Why? Because supercars were built to be looked _at,_ not for the driver to look out – considering the normal kind of ego an owner of a supercar has – no one suspects to be observed by the unobservant. But Kaullus was, as anyone will tell you, primarily male and so couldn't help but have preferences. His came in the form of what for all appearances looked like a V12 DBS Aston Martin Coupe, a copy of the designs stolen off the desk of Marek Reichman himself earlier in the year. The people in vehicle design had looked the specs over, laughed at them, torn them apart, rewritten them and then fabricated a Fusion-based version. They'd kept the outside shell because…well the exterior was beautiful and you don't mess with perfection. Kaullus had liked it so much he'd had a model custom made for himself, with improvements to the engine and the restoration of the original drivetrain (the redesign gave the Aston four-wheel-drive, Kaullus' Aston went back to rear-wheel-drive). The interior was as comfortable as ever, with the Alcantara leather seats, piano black fascia and iridium silver centre console. Frankly he adored Reichman's idea of an Emotional Control Unit, and so he'd ordered that to be kept in his Aston. Finally, the car's exterior had been given a coat of ceramic grey that just blended in perfectly with the night.

Grinning like a kid in a toy shop, Kaullus unlocked the car, opened the door, slipped in and slotted the ECU into the ignition slot on the centre, pushing it all the way in when he felt resistance until he heard a faint click. The revving he got out of that made him nearly forget that he had work to do. Shaking himself out of his gushiness, Kaullus turned on the Aston's comm. "Eye, you there?"

"_Always on when you need us, Kaullus."_

"Good to hear," he gave the accelerator a bit of a push and the Aston moved out of its allotted area into the middle of the room, "right then, begin exit procedures."

"_Copy that, locking up."_ On the operator's word, the other cars were sealed away as huge concrete bulkheads descended, clamping down into the ground. Behind him, the door Kaullus had entered automatically locked. He was now virtually along, a long corridor stretched out before him, and at the end, the wall was rising up to reveal a black void, dotted with red and green flashes every now and again_. "Freeway clear, transferring you to traffic control."_

A new voice replaced the operator's over the comm system, requesting clearly and bluntly, _"Identification."_

"Guardian, Level Ten clearance, registration Alpha-Omega One."

"_Cleared. Select destination_." On the dash board of the Aston, a holoscreen lit up, providing Kaullus with a map of London. Here and there were flashing spots leading onto roads – areas where there was an exit point that the Aston could drive out of. Initially he wanted to come out as close to the Powell Estate as possible, however Kaullus reasoned that by now Rose would have coerced Mickey into driving her over to Clive's. Quickly reciting the address he'd seen on the invitation, Kaullus zoomed in the map to Uxbridge and looked for the nearest exit. _Damn it. The Chimes? Is that all we have? It's a two hour drive! _Though he quickly kicked himself, getting his logical side thinking again; it would be a two hour drive from any exit, and this way he would at least come out at the destination. Sighing, and making a note to speak to the Architects to build a few more exit points in the suburbs, Kaullus selected the Chimes exit.

"_Destination selected and confirmed," _the blunt artificial voice stated,_ "proceed at your own discretion and safe journey Elite."_

_Gotta remember to have the tech boys work on a new voice module for those things. _Kaullus thought as he kicked the car into gear and jammed on the throttle. The Aston practically blasted out of the garage, one moment there had been the sterile greyness of the Ground Tactical Resources, another and Kaullus was surrounded by the inky blackness of the Underworld Freeway. The red and green lighting marking the pathway ahead and behind bled into each other until all that could be seen was a stream of light. As the lighting turned, Kaullus turned the Aston with it, a practise he'd mastered early in the fourth century of the Underworld during their then largest economic boom which coincided with the introduction of their seventh generation of automotive transport. After a while the action became second nature and he stopped relying on the road to tell him the way, simply keeping his eyes focussed on the lights.

Time passed and eventually he found himself growing bored, so he turned on the auto-pilot, and flipped the comm. back on. "Eye, me again. Bit bored, wanted to check in."

"_By that,"_ the familiar ring of Nina's voice responded over the comm. _"I assume you mean you wanted to know Rose's progress."_

He grinned. "Ah, you got me."

"_Well, we've got visual on Rose and Mickey in his…Beetle…"_ she trailed off for a moment, and Kaullus was pretty sure he detected a little snicker, even women had preferences in cars it seemed. A moment later Nina's voice levelled out again and she continued, _"anyway, Rose just went into Clive's house and Mickey's sitting outside, looking incredibly paranoid. Seems to think Clive's a…what was it? Oh yeah here we go 'an internet lunatic murderer.' Oh and Rose was called a nutter –"_

"Who, where, what age, and can I get away with his or her murder?"

"_By a boy – Clive's son by the sound of it, dunno his name – at the front door, looked around twelve, and probably if you're able to isolate him after school." _That particularly smug reply was designed exactly to kick him in the proverbial balls. Feeling a bit rotten now, Kaullus shut up and decided to relax, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back into the beautifully comfortable leather.

He didn't have long to rest though, a few minutes later Nina called him again, sounding a bit urgent. _"Kaullus, you better speed up!"_

"What is it?" He asked, leaning forward again. Had something gone wrong?

"_You were right. They sent a drone." _

Her words had exactly the effect she might have been hoping for; immediately Kaullus flicked the signal to his earpiece and turned off the auto-pilot. Gunning the throttle, he took back control of the Aston, weaving it about the road. "What does it look like?" He asked, even as he pulled up a map – he'd just passed the underground railway station at Ickenham. _Ten minutes out._

"_It's a dustbin."_

"Oh, well not exactly low-key is it?"

"_And it's sucking Mickey in." _That got his attention again. He was familiar with this tactic, it was one he'd seen used millennia ago. When he'd first met the Doctor. Even now he could remember the screams.

"Duplication" He muttered, "they remove the original and send in a plastic copy to scope out the situation. But I don't understand!"

"_Kaullus?"_

"Duplication is reserved for stakeout operations or espionage. Why would it go to all the trouble of making a copy of a mechanic of all things?" He checked the map again. _Five minutes out._

"_Well, you said it yourself," _Nina reminded him, though she was still a bit fast paced, _"Rose is looking up the Doctor, the Consciousness wants to know why."_

"But why a Duplicate?" Kaullus stressed. "Rose can't be important enough to warrant that sort of attention." He sighed in annoyance and shook his head, it didn't matter why. It never mattered why when it came to a situation like this. What did matter was that he get there. But he should still make sure that he'd be attacking the real fake. "Has Mickey been…assimilated yet?"

"_Not yet, but he isn't going anywhere. His hands are stuck…Kaullus its pulling him back!"_

_Two minutes out. C'mon Smith! Show us that Powell Estate grit, just hold out a bit longer._

"_It's got him."_

_Well so much for Powell Estate grit. _"Specifics, Eye."

"_Swallowed him whole…and it just belched." _There was silence for a moment, save for the Aston's engine humming away. _"Kaullus…is he dead?"_

"Possibly," He admitted "Depends on the strength of the Duplicate. If they really want to keep it going they'll stash him away somewhere safe until the Duplicate's completed its mission." Though, no offence to the possibly late Mickey Smith but, he didn't see why the Duplicate needed to be kept around for too long. Just long enough to find out what Rose knew. And with the limits to her knowledge, that was probably about an hour's worth. He checked the map again.

"Right, here we go. Wish me luck all!"

"_Better hurry, Kaullus." _Nina told him, _"Rose just came back out, though by the way she's talking, I don't think she bought what Clive told her."_

"Copy, Eye. Going silent for now."

"_Understood."_ And with that the comm. went dead.

_Okay, here goes. _Ahead of him, the lights had come to an end and beyond them he could see the light of the afternoon sun. Cricking his neck, Kaullus slowed Aston down to twenty miles per hour…then ten…and then he brought it all the way down to five. And suddenly the black was gone, replaced by grey concrete walls and sunlight pouring in on his left. He'd come out at the bottom floor of the car park of the Chimes shopping centre in Uxbridge, and now as quickly as he possibly dared he manoeuvred the Aston up a level to the exit. No one looked at him twice, though maybe one or two eyes wandered as the dark Aston Martin floated by, as the car turned out of the car park and onto Chippendale Waye.

He didn't get far though. As the Aston made its way toward the roundabout, it was nearly slammed into by a gaudy yellow VW Beetle coming out on his left. Male annoyance took him over, and he was about to snap angrily at the driver…until he saw who was driving. Too big a grin, expressionless eyes, and a glint that would suggest too much make up. He'd found Duplicate Mickey Smith already. And it was doing a good job at imitating him. _If he's dinged my chrome I'll pop his head off. _

The target was going in the opposite direction to him, headed back into town. Pulling a quick, and very much illegal U-turn, Kaullus set off in pursuit, much to the ire of many on either side of the road. The shadowing didn't take long though as the Beetle pulled into the very car park he'd just exited. Snarling in annoyance, Kaullus drove past it and head around to the Sainsbury's car park. As soon as he was parked he jumped out, trusting the automatic lock to kick in, and ran towards the Chimes.

He didn't stop to think about what would happen to Rose - and subsequently him and his timeline - if he didn't get there before the Duplicate learned just how much she didn't know.

* * *

**A/N: **So there we go, Kaullus is pretty much a general. King of his own little world. Think Van Statten would like him? Nah. Kaullus actually tries to help out every now and then. And hey, look at that, Dalek and Cyberman tech! Where'd he get that? Well, you know what they say. Spoilers!


	5. The TARDIS

**A/N: **And here we go: The diner, the champagne bottle, the Duplicate that blows its cover at least five times in my opinion. The TARDIS is in, the Doctor is grumpy, Rose is confused, and Kaullus is sitting about enjoying the story. I figure we oughta be seeing the Nestene Consciousness sooner or later. But for now we'll settle with the Duplicate getting beaten about by Kaullus and losing its head to the Doctor.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The TARDIS**

It wasn't too hard to find them. In fact, Kaullus was starting to think someone was watching over him by the way he spotted them so easily again. They were together, arm in arm – and he still couldn't get over how…not right it looked. Nevertheless he shook these thoughts away and focussed on following them out of the Chimes and along High Street, hands in pockets, left running along his sonic screwdriver, right running along the grooves of his brass knuckle dusters. He could only see the backs of their heads, but judging by the way Rose's head was bobbing, she was either going on about the Doctor or, more likely from this point in her timeline, what she was going to do now that said Doctor had blown up her job. The Duplicate's head just stayed uncomfortably still, something that any keen-eyed person would note seemed a bit odd. However everyone out was human, and the last time Kaullus met a keen-eyed human she tried to kill him. It didn't end well for her.

Keeping quiet, and as inconspicuous as possible (not an easy task when the eyes of half the female by-passers followed him as he walked by), Kaullus made sure not to lose sight of them as they walked past the local Nando's, and further still until Rose pulled the Duplicate to a stop outside a Pizza Express. _Perfect. _Kaullus thought to himself sarcastically. _I can't get at him in front of so many people without….wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking? Of course I can! _All he really needed to do was stick close to them until they left again. Even the Duplicate wouldn't be stupid enough to kill Rose in front of a crowd. He had time.

He picked up his pace as the couple stepped inside, making sure he didn't go too fast, he needed give them time to sit down without running the risk of Rose spotting him and judging by the time he'd be lucky if they got a seat right off the bat. As luck would have it, when he did arrive at the restaurant, he could see them both sat down, a bit to the back, with Rose's back to the door.

Smiling with relief, he stepped inside and was greeted by a young waitress. "Hi there," she flashed him that typical, welcoming polite smile, though she could probably be doing other things with her time, "table for one, is it?"

"Yep, just me, little lonely me" he shrugged, turning on the charm with his trademark smile, "sad as that is, I find myself more hungry than anything else," he accentuated the 'hungry' just right enough to get a shocked twitch out of the girl, "you wouldn't mind giving me an example of your culinary delights would you?" Just to add that little touch, he ran his tongue along the back of his pearly whites, smile still in place.

It got the desired effect and he got his table in record time, though the poor girl stumbled a bit getting everything just perfect for him until he was forced to wave her off. Though he did order a Strongbow – he was likely to do something dangerous and stupid in a few seconds after all. His table was right in sight of the Duplicate though it clearly didn't consider him a threat, more focussed on smiling stupidly, and rather unconvincingly, at its original's girlfriend.

Said girlfriend was focussing, as he'd suspected, on what to do next. "D'you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen." The thrill-less snort followed by a dull sigh told Kaullus just how much she thought of that prospect "Is that it for me then? Dishing out chips? I could do A-Levels. I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stones' fault. I only left school 'cos of him and look what happened there."

_Hmm, indeed. _For a moment, Kaullus slipped back into that memory, recounting the final score of what all he did to the little shit. _Broken ribs, cut up the left leg, crushed the right, concussion, busted the left hand, dislocated the right shoulder. _He frowned at the list of just what had gone down there._ How he got thrown into prison and no one was on the lookout for who did that to him is beyond me._

"So where'd you meet this Doctor?"

Six words can do a lot. For Kaullus, they tuned him right back into when he was supposed to be and he suddenly focussed on the pair. The Duplicate was finally looking a bit more animate, the stupid grin gone at last, replaced with a look of deadly seriousness…that really didn't look any more right on Mickey's face than the last expression.

Of course, six words can also be lost on people who had other thoughts on their minds. Case in point; Rose. "I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about me for a sec-?"

"'Cos I reckon it all started there at the shop," the Duplicate interrupted her, serious as…well as serious as Mickey Smith ever could look "am I right? Is he something to do with that?"

_Crap…_ slowly, Kaullus reached for the menu, placing it in his lap and leaning back. To a casual observer, he just looked like he was looking for something that interested him, while also being a bit disgusting. It put the off enough though for him to unclip his holster and pull his Beretta out enough to get his fingers around the grip.

"S-sort of." Going by her tone, this was something Rose had decided to stay away from.

_Not if the Doctor or Mr Grins-a-Lot here has any say in the matter. _Kaullus thought to himself, turning to smile quickly as the waitress returned with his drink.

"What was he doin' there?"

"I'm not goin' on about him, Mickey." Well fair dos, she kept herself firm with him. But then again, from watching her for eighteen years, she'd always worn the trousers their relationship, "I'm not," she went on, "'cos, I know it sounds daft but…I don't think he's safe."

_Truer words never spoken when it comes to the Doctor. _Kaullus nodded to himself in admittance, remembering a certain little boy asking for his mummy...amplified to include a whole hospital of people…in the middle of the Blitz.

Then the Duplicate started to short out. "But you can trust me sweetheart – babe – sugar – darling – sugar." All of the little pet names getting a squeaky or normal voice out of him.

_The psychic bond is weakening already? _That actually surprised Kaullus a little bit. He could imagine the confused look Rose had to have plastered across her face right now, and pulled his gun free of its holster completely, though for now he remained seated.

"You can tell me anythin'." The Duplicate continued, doing its best to effect an earnest expression, though for some reason it seemed to be really struggling to get it right, "Tell me what the Doctor's planning and I can help you, Rose. 'Cos that's all I wanna do, sweetheart – sugar – babe – sugar – sweetheart."

_Again, with the shorting out! _

Confusion was still rife with Rose though as she finally asked him, "What're you doin' that for?"

_Good question. _Kaullus found himself thinking the same thing. He'd never seen a Duplicate malfunction so badly before. And it didn't really seem all that hidden, considering the Duplicates he'd seen before, that glisten wasn't exactly helping to hide it.

His thoughts shorted out though when he caught sight of a familiar figure come out of the kitchen door, calm as you like, carrying a champagne bottle. He found himself smirking as he watched the Doctor wander along to stand behind the Duplicate and present the bottle. "Your champagne." He offered.

The plastic short-circuit didn't even bother to look up, "We didn't order any champagne." It dismissed bluntly, not taking its eyes off of Rose, grabbing her arm to keep her in place. "Where's the Doctor?" It flat out demanded, its voice becoming more threatening.

Behind it, the Doctor shrugged and simply walked around to the other side of the table on Rose's left, holding the bottle out to her. "Madam," he offered, completely lost in the act, "your champagne."

Quite frankly, Kaullus figured she wouldn't give a damn about a drink right now. Knowing her she'd be busy worrying over what was up with Mickey. So when she waved the Doctor off, Kaullus wasn't surprised. Although he did cock the Berretta and swivel his legs around so they were clear for him to move.

"Mickey, what is it?" She asked seriously now, concern also in there born from what Clive must've shown her.

And here the Duplicate practically blew its cover, "I need to find out how much you know," it snapped angrily, with not just a bit of a tad of frustration, "so where is he?!" It was distracted by its task though, when Kaullus, finally unable to stand the pathetic attempt at subterfuge, cracked up. Though it was just a light snigger, it got the Duplicate's attention and it turned to glare at him. "An' what's so funny ma-?" It halted as, doubtless, information was coming from the Nestene Consciousness, filling it in on what it knew about him. "You! You were there too."

This outburst got Rose's attention and she spun round to face him. The surprise was tangent, combined with a bit of suspicion as she regarded him. Even the Doctor turned to look at him, a healthy look of suspicion in his own perplexed stare. For Kaullus' part, he masked the remainder of his laugh by taking a long gulp of his drink, aware that they were attracting an audience. Once he'd contained himself, he easily stood from his chair, and took a couple of steps forward, garnering everyone's attention – costumer and staff – though staying at a distance that didn't draw attention to the Doctor…though it should be obvious who he was to the Duplicate by now. "Me?" He pointed to himself, effect a light drunken stagger, "I was jus' in 'ere for a ligh' drink an' a heavy tip!" He even went for the cheesy drunk grin the Duplicate had been affecting a minute ago. "Yeah this is wha' you look like, mate. Dunno what you're on, but I wouldn' min' gettin' some m'self." He giggled a little, leaning back on his abandoned table.

"Oh and Doctor," He started again, voice suddenly clear, tone deadly serious, and drawing the Duplicate's and Rose's attention to their waiter. The Duplicate suddenly got up from its chair, intent on taking him down. But that was as far as it got, "Don't bother wasting the bottle." Kaullus finished, and then he raised his arm, took aim at the spot between the Duplicate's eyes, and fired the Berretta.

The loud rapport mixed with the terrified screams of a few patrons, and several darted from their chairs, running out the door. When the bullet impacted, the Duplicate was thrown off its feet and smacked into the floor. Blocking out Rose's terrified scream, Kaullus stalked forward, gun at the ready. He got to the table before the Doctor suddenly got in his way.

"What the hell was that?!" The irate Time Lord snapped, "You didn't have to go and do that to it!"

"Oh come off it Doctor!" He shouted right back. "You and I both know that bullets are next to useless against them!" He shoved the Doctor aside and stepped around the table, eyeing the Duplicate carefully for any sort of movement. His attention was so focussed on it that he nearly missed the blonde missile that was Rose Tyler coming at him, presumably with a Tyler Slap ready to go – Kaullus had seen Jackie slap more than one of her daughter's boyfriends, as well as her own, to know to fear that slap. He backed up quickly and used his free arm to grab her and pull her away from the Duplicate, ignoring her screams of protest and tightening his grip when she tried to get away.

"Let me go!" She cried again, pulling once more only for Kaullus to get an even firmer grip, if that were possible, on her captured arm. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had to wonder why no one had phoned the police yet. "Let go of me! Let me go to him!" Oh and now he could hear her voice cracking up.

_Stay strong man, stay strong._

"You killed him! You went and killed him!"

"No he didn't." The northern accent was a surprising relief to the tense atmosphere, and Kaullus took his eyes off of the Duplicate for a moment to glance at the Doctor…who was still glaring daggers into him. "It was still a stupid move though. Now people're gonna ask questions."

Kaullus just shrugged, "Not my problem. They'll cover it up, all hush hush like that mess up in California. And while we're on that subject," and here his look dropped some of the seriousness that had been etched in, "Victorian dress…in 1999…with long hair to boot?" He shook his head piteously at the Doctor, "Really? Just what did that aspirin do to your system?"

"Oh look who's talking." The Doctor retorted, indicating Kaullus' own long hair that now hung loosely around him.

"Yeah, the difference is that I can pull the look off. And my surgeon doesn't think I'm crazy."

"How d'you know–?"

"Oh shut up, the pair of you!" Both men turned their attention back to Rose, her distress having turned into anger at the pair of them for writing off 'Mickey' as an unnecessary topic. "You just shot my boyfriend!"

"Did I?" Kaullus raised his left eyebrow at her in shameless amusement – something he logically knew he shouldn't be feeling right now – and looked back at the Duplicate. "Seems pretty alive to me."

"What're you-?" But her protests were cut short when she finally actually looked at the Duplicate and saw it sitting up, cross-eyed…with no entry wound in its forehead. For a moment a mild look of concentration flickered over its face as it played with something in its mouth, until it spat whatever was causing it the mild bit of discomfort. The compressed bullet-head fell harmlessly onto the floor. Safe to say, when Kaullus let go of her, Rose was too speechless, and slightly terrified, to realise she had her freedom back.

The Duplicate stared at the bullet with a bit of Mickey-esque wordlessness, and then turned its attention to Kaullus. "Anyway."

It leapt to its feet, morphing its hands before the eyes of everyone who had stayed inside into two giant clubs. Its first move was to smash the table in, causing the rest of the restaurant that wasn't already screaming to start doing so. Immediately and instinctively, Kaullus shoved Rose over to the Doctor as the Duplicate came charging at him, both clubs aiming to bash his head in. A stupid move though as the move left it completely unprotected from an attack to itself…which would've been absolutely fine if Kaullus hadn't needed both of his arms to grab the clubs and hold them back. Putting one leg ahead of the other, he put all his weight on the front one, locking down his position and bringing the Duplicate to a halt, putting the two of them eye-to-eye.

Once again, the situation brought on a bit of guilty glee and Kaullus felt a smirk gracing his lips as the adrenaline got going. "Not bad…" he admitted, pushing back a bit on the Duplicate, "but a stupid move. 'Cos now, I can do this!" And he kicked his back leg forward, up between the Duplicate's legs and hit…nothing.

The Duplicate seized on the moment and shoved him back, knocking him off of his feet. "Not exactly human mate," it reminded him, grinning mockingly, "got some improvements goin' on."

"Well…" Kaullus muttered in annoyance, "that should've been a bit obvious." He glanced up at his captive audience and fought the urge to roll his eyes when he saw the Doctor watching on in amusement. "Any time you wanna jump in and help out would be appreciated."

"What? And miss this comedy moment, Mr Poet?" However when the Duplicate turned its attention to him, the Doctor got going, moving away from the first swing and ducking under the other, getting around it and putting it in a headlock. The Duplicate started thrashing, trying to get at him, but with hands that were now static clubs, it couldn't turn them to properly hit him. After a brief bout of pulling and tugging, the Doctor managed to, much to the terror of the customers, pull the plastic head clean off.

For a moment it remained static before glaring up at him, "Don't think that's gonna stop me." It warned, much to the horror of a nearby couple.

The headless body was still moving, thrashing its arms wildly though in the Doctor's general direction much to the Time Lord's chagrin. He turned to face Kaullus, who had sat up and was now simply observing him. "Do you wanna lend a hand here?"

"What?" Kaullus parroted, "And miss this comedy moment, Satellite Ears?" He smirked as the Doctor's face went from serious to self-conscious but got up anyway, kicking the body away from them into an empty table, shattering glass and wood in the process. "Right, I think it's time to go."

His comment was timed perfectly with the fire alarm going off, and he turned to see Rose shouting at the rest of the customers to get out which they immediately did, fleeing from the Headless Wonder and the Gun Toting Mad Man. Kaullus half-expected this younger Rose to leave with them and was thankful when she didn't. The Duplicate was getting back up at this point, and the Doctor was already heading back to the kitchen, Rose ahead of him telling the chefs and remaining waiters and waitresses to get out. Not one for being left behind, Kaullus immediately followed them, locking the door behind him.

_That won't keep it out for long. _He thought to himself in frustration. _One of these days, the Doctor really needs to adapt a setting for wood._

Leaving the door behind, he raced through the kitchen and got out the back exit just before the Doctor slammed the thankfully metal door behind him and sonic'd it shut. The back yard was practically empty save for a few dustbins and, to Kaullus' great delight, a very familiar big blue box. Rose however was looking around desperately for another way out of the dead end they'd run themselves into, even as Kaullus and the Doctor sauntered casually towards the TARDIS.

"Open the gate!" She yelled at them, even as she banged on said gates that had a padlock and chains running through the handles, "Use that tube thing, come on!"

"Oi!" Both the Doctor and Kaullus snapped in unison, Kaullus pulling out his own along with his TARDIS key. "Sonic Screwdriver to you."

"Use it!" She shouted right back, not really caring what the tool was called.

Kaullus snorted, "Bah, no need. Where's the fun in sonic-ing your way out of trouble all the time? Tell you what," he got ahead of the Doctor and unlocked the TARDIS door, "let's go in here." Not waiting for an argument or the Doctor's scrutiny on why he had a key, he opened the door and stepped inside, immediately revelling in the welcoming hum.

He hadn't actually been inside the TARDIS for what felt like an age, the last time he'd been inside was after that mess with Vincent and the Krafayis. The console room was still in its older theme, the six organic coral-like supports arching out from the centre of the ceiling to the bottom of the walls, the hexagonal impressions lining the walls adding to the feel of a live organism – as if the TARDIS had her own cells on display. Kaullus smiled as he walked up the red tiled grating to the hexagonal platform where the console and time-rotor itself lay.

The Doctor joined him a second later, eyeing him warily as he started setting the TARDIS up for departure, pulling down two of the black wires that usually stayed housed at the top of the time rotor.

Somewhere outside, Kaullus made out Rose shouting at them, "You can't hide inside a wooden box!" He smirked a little, noting the tone of incredulity and reminiscing a bit to himself on how he'd reacted the first time he watched them just stroll into the TARDIS. He'd thought they were mad. The smirk was washed away however when he heard beating on the sonic'd door – the Duplicate had caught up with them much faster than he'd expected. "It's gonna get us!" Again he kicked himself for forgetting Rose's inexperience.

"Shouldn't we go out and get her?" He asked the Doctor, trying not to sound too concerned. He had to keep things as accurate to what they'd told him as possible.

But the Doctor just shook his head, "Nah, she should be in here in about," he popped the Duplicate's head underneath his arm and looked at his watch, "three…two…one."

"Doctor!" Rose suddenly came barrelling through the doors, slamming them behind her before registering the hum and eerie green glow. And when she turned around to see what was making that noise, her wide-eyed stare was, for Kaullus and, he betted, the Doctor, simply priceless.

"So…" Kaullus started, hands in pockets, leaning against the console as if he owned it, "what d'you think?"

She answered by stumbling back out again. Chuckling a little, Kaullus sauntered around the console and pulled the scanner around, seeing that it was already turned on and showing the yard outside. Rose was circling the TARDIS exterior, trying to wrap her head around what she'd just walked into and what was housing it. _That's dimensional transcendence for you,_ he thought to himself as he patted the console fondly, _you just can't wrap your head around it._ He glanced up at the Doctor again who was tinkering with the controls on the console and quickly amended his thought. _Unless, of course, you're him._ Another bang outside brought his attention back to the scanner. The Duplicate was, literally, one hand out of the building and Rose was just standing there, seeming to be weighing her options.

_Goddammit Tyler! _Kaullus thought, _Now is not the time to think things over! _Abandoning the console, he ran around the room ignoring the Doctor's calm, if slightly annoyed, assurances that she'd be in soon enough and down the ramp to the door. _Pushing_ the TARDIS' doors open, he grabbed Rose by the arm and tugged her inside, pulling them shut behind her a second later. That done, he turned disbelieving eyes to her "Next time you're faced with imminent death, Rose Tyler, you make sure you get yourself inside this box immediately!"

_Not that she's ever done that before._ He groused inwardly, making his way up the ramp again to the Doctor.

"Well what good is it anyway?" She asked back, "It's gonna follow us in here!"

"Oi, no insulting my ship!" The Doctor barked, "The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through those doors, and believe me they tried. Now, shut up a minute."

"Bit rude there." Kaullus muttered to him, leaning back against the console again. As expected the Doctor ignored him, so he decided to focus on how Rose was taking it all. Right now she was standing by the doors, staring up at the sheer scale of size, trembling a little. "A lot to take in isn't it?" She just stared at him, eyes still lacking any form of comprehension. Seeing clearly that she was lost in the world of 'WTF?!' Kaullus turned his attention back to the Doctor. "We meet again, Doctor."

The Doctor just looked at him again with that look with absolutely no trust whatsoever. He'd have to work on that. "You wanna tell me how you just happened to end up in the same diner as those two?" He nodded back at Rose.

In return, Kaullus shrugged, "I figured you wouldn't get anywhere with that arm. Too simple. Am I right?" That the Doctor didn't answer spoke about just how right he was. "So, I figured, Rose made herself a target by getting familiar with you. What would you do if you were a big glob of plastic looking to take over the Earth?"

"I dunno." The Doctor replied. "Never been a big glob of plastic before. So, what would I do?"

"Send a drone to shadow the witness and ascertain just how much the witness knew. All I did was tail her." There, that wasn't exactly a lie was it? He had sort of been shadowing her for a while now and then he was tailing her for about three minutes before it all went mad. "So you've got your head. You gonna use the psychic link with the consciousness as a transit line, taking you all the way back to the source?"

For a moment, the Doctor stared at him fully, trying to gauge what exactly made him tick for a moment. Kaullus fought the scrutiny as best he could. The number of people who could make him back off from a stare down, he could count on one hand. The Doctor – in whatever body he happened to be in – was always the first one that came to mind.

At last, the Time Lord backed down. "You're good." He admitted shortly, and then turned round, hands in pockets, to address Rose who was still gazing at the TARDIS' interior. "Right then. Where d'you wanna start?"

That snapped her attention to the two of them, though her attention rested mainly on the Doctor. From behind him, Kaullus could see the thousand-and-one questions racing through her head, causing her to trip over her words as she tried to figure which question was the most important. She focussed on the easiest to answer, "The inside's bigger than the outside?" She asked, glancing around again at the console room.

"Yup." The Doctor answered bluntly.

"It's alien."

"Yes."

And now Kaullus found himself leaning forward in anticipation. The big question was coming up. Then Rose looked at the Doctor properly, really looked at him, and asked "Are you alien?"

The Doctor stood there, green light illuminating his worn face and making him look more his age than any time in the past when Kaullus had caught sight of his previous incarnations. And with a voice filled with that age, he answered. "Yes."

There was a brief pause as Rose assimilated that information, and then she looked at Kaullus. "And you? You alien too?"

He shrugged, "'Alien' would suggest that I'm indigenous to another world." He answered slowly, "But for as long as I can remember, this planet has been my home."

"Yeah?" She asked, not convinced at all. "Then what's with the ears?"

Another pause followed that, with the Doctor turning to face him. Subconsciously, Kaullus reached up and ran his fingers over his long ears, the thing that had always stood out about him, showing the world his non-human status. He didn't question how she could now see them, the TARDIS had her own perception filter, stronger than the one he had on his coat. The stronger filter cancelled out his weaker one, revealing what he'd been hiding. There was one question though on his mind, as he addressed the Doctor, "You must've seen through the filter. Why didn't you make a hassle of it?"

"I had other things on my mind," the Doctor replied, "one alien stalking me isn't a problem as long as he doesn't bring an army."

"I'm not alien!" He snapped, "And as far as stalking you goes, you pretty much ask for attention with all the explosions." He said nothing about the army though, considering the Elite Corps on its own posed quite the offensive force. Ignoring the Doctor for a moment, he turned to Rose, "They're not gonna be a problem are they? The ears?"

"No." She replied hoarsely. Considering her day, Kaullus' ears had to be the last thing on her mind. She'd had a plastic arm latch onto her face, the man who blew up her job sharing the experience of feeling the Earth's rotation, had watched her boyfriend-who-wasn't-her-boyfriend get shot, found out he was a plastic copy, and now she was standing in a bigger-on-the-inside box with an alien as a could-be-alien. Kaullus' long ears? Definitely not the most important thing of the day. Instead she went back to staring at the console room again.

Seeing her roaming eyes, the Doctor answered her un-asked question…sort of. "It's called the TARDIS, this thing. (Kaullus, noting the change in pitch, told him immediately that the TARDIS took exception to being called a thing) That's T.A.R.D.I.S. Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

And then the whole reality of the situation must have suddenly slammed into her, because Rose let out a small sob which she quickly tried to cover up. Kaullus was two seconds away from moving forward, past experience telling him to go right to her right now, but the Doctor started up before he could. "That's alright." He said lightly. "Culture shock, happens to the best of us."

"Erm…" Kaullus winced a little as, once again, the Doctor missed the point. "I don't think that's what's eating at her."

"Then what is it?" Ah there it was again. That sudden desire to punch the big-eared dick…one day maybe…one day.

She quickly straightened up, that need to be on top of the situation rising, and Rose got herself back together, "Did they kill him?" She asked, though her voice was still cracked. At the Doctor's blank look she elaborated, "Mickey. Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"

At once the Doctor frowned. "Oh…" Suddenly a guilty frown took over his expression and he broke eye contact. "Didn't think of that." He admitted, a bit offhand.

"Of course you didn't." Kaullus muttered bluntly.

The sadness suddenly evaporated from Rose's face and suddenly Kaullus had the distinct displeasure of seeing the Jackie Tyler side of Rose rise up in her again. "He's my boyfriend!" She stated furiously. "You pulled his head off – they copied him and you didn't even think?!"

"Well technically," Kaullus put in, "they copied him first and _then_ the Doctor pulled the head off, all without thinking of course."

This did nothing to quell her ire though as she suddenly focussed her 'Jackie glare' on him. "And you! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Me?!" He asked incredulously, pointing at himself. "What did I do?"

"You pulled a gun on him!" She shouted, "You didn't stop and think! I've seen docs on psychic control, using the mind to move things. Damaging the object could end up harming the controller, and you shot him in the head!"

"Ah…well when you like that." She was right of course, Duplicates needed a psychic link with the original to keep the disguise up to snuff. Though that one wasn't exactly what Kaullus would call a proper Duplicate seeing as it shorted out twice in quick succession so the chance was that the link wasn't working properly…he probably should've said that before she got going, though.

But she got both of their attention when she demanded of them, "And now you're both just gonna let him melt?!"

"Melt?" And only now did Kaullus note the odd smell in the room. Both he and the Doctor flicked their attention back to the head, which was collapsing in on itself, bubbling a little bit and look all around disgusting. The Doctor however barely noticed this save the melting bit. "Oh, no, no, no, no, NO!" He immediately leapt around the console, pulling down a lever that Kaullus had to assume was the gravitic annomaliser because the TARDIS suddenly began shaking about, taking off, the time rotor beginning to rise and fall.

Rose was right behind him as the Doctor worked, "What're you doing?!"

"Reviving the signal, it's fading!" He replied distractedly as he grabbed a mallet, holding it ready if needed. "Wait I've got it…" He ran around the console, shoving Kaullus out of the way and looking at the display on the scanner. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" He immediately vanished again.

Kaullus backed up, giving the Doctor room to work, though it was clear that the signal was getting fainter and fainter. Glancing at the pair, he weighed the pros and cons of revealing what he could do. Rose was just standing there, not having a clue what the Doctor was doing with all the weird – to her – controls and buttons on the console, whilst the Doctor was jumping all over the place, trying to man a ship that was designed for six operators. He looked up at the Time Rotor and stretched out a bit with his mind.

'_There's no way he'll reach the signal source with that fading Duplicate.' _He sent to her. _'I could probably get us a bit closer…if you're willing to help out that is.' _The TARDIS stayed silent for a moment, as if debating what he was telling her, before sending back a gentle swath of allowance and admittance. Kaullus looked at the console, recognising the suggestive idea placed in his head by the TARDIS and nodded his thanks to her.

Immediately he set to work, running around the console to where the Doctor was and knocked him away. "Okay, helmic regulator, let's give it a pump." He grabbed what looked like a bicycle wheel pump and gave it few short pumps before abandoning it and running around to the other side again.

"What the hell're you doing?!" The Doctor yelled.

"Helping!" He shouted back. "Right then, that's made the trace a bit more accurate, what next? Re-route the Distress Signal Receiver to get a clearer feedback, normalise the Temporal Stabiliser – don't wanna be ending up in the Dark Ages now do we? And finally the Dimensional Stabiliser! Give us a bit of a smoother ride."

"Get off the controls!" The Doctor shouted, pushing him away, even as the ride began to become a bit less bumpy. Pulling the scanner to him, the Doctor took a look at where they were going…and his eyebrows promptly attempted to get acquainted with his hairline. "What the hell?" He rounded on Kaullus, "How'd you do that?!"

"What, fold back the telepathic signal slaving the TARDIS to follow it to whatever destination said signal's source is originating from using a bit of Dimensional Rerouting and Temporal Anomalising?" Oh god, he sounded like Pinstripes. "Not that hard when she helps out." He indicated the TARDIS. "She likes me."

That was all he got out before the new steadiness of the TARDIS gave way to her usual shiftiness, trying to throw them off their feet. The Doctor abandoned Kaullus and went right back to the console, trying to get back the signal that was getting fainter all the time. For Kaullus' part, he stumbled over to Rose, grabbing her and pulling her up to the console. "Hold on here," he told her firmly, "you hold on and don't let go. Flight in the TARDIS can be…rough."

"You don't say." She muttered in return, nevertheless she grabbed on to the console.

The Doctor paid the two of them no heed as he tried his best to get back the locked signal Kaullus had had a moment ago, though from just a glance at the sludge that had been the Duplicate's head, Kaullus knew they weren't going to get all the way there. Nevertheless, the Doctor put up one hell of a fight getting there. "Almost there!" He shouted over the TARDIS' engines, "Almost there! Here we go!"

The wheeze-groan of the TARDIS continued for a few more seconds before finally changing pitch and ending with a definitive thud. Without paying the other two the slightest regard, the Doctor raced out of the TARDIS doors, not a word spoken.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose called out to him, even as Kaullus left the console and headed for the doors as well.

They'd landed back in the city of London, on the Thames embankment to be accurate, just a shout away from the London Eye. Snarling in annoyance, Kaullus joined the Doctor by the embankment just as Rose came running out of the doors.

"I lost the signal, I got so close!" the Doctor groused.

"We've moved." Rose noted, looking around in confusion again before looking back at the TARDIS speculatively. "Does it fly?"

"Disappears there, reappears here," the Doctor replied shortly, "you wouldn't understand." He then turned irate eyes on Kaullus, "I might've even got it if you hadn't butted in!"

"Oi!" He snapped right back. "That signal was fading from the moment you put it into the trace system. Don't blame me for something that couldn't be avoided!"

"But if we're somewhere else," Rose cut in between them, likely seeing the storm brewing in both men's eyes "what about that headless thing? It's still loose."

Regarding her for a second, Kaullus turned and leaned on the stone. "Not likely. When the head melted, the body would've likely gone with it." A devious little voice must've told him to go further because he suddenly continued "Also, the TARDIS is housed in a dimension all of its own. The box is just an…interface I guess is the best term. It fades out when the TARDIS is programmed to take the pilot to a new destination and fades back in to where the pilot wants to go. Though when it comes to that one," he indicated the blue box, "I'd say she had more handling over where to go than Satellite Ears here and-"

"My god," the Doctor snapped, heading back towards the TARDIS, "are you gonna witter on all night?"

"I might do yeah." He replied shortly, the Doctor's attitude finally grating on his last nerve.

Rose's voice cut in between the two of them again, though this time she was talking more to herself than either of them. "I'll have to tell his mother…" Off the confused look from the Doctor as she said this, her frustration with him returned in force.

However, it was Kaullus who snapped first, his own annoyance with the Doctor having peaked. "Mickey, you big-eared lout! Rose'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot again!" The Doctor's unconcerned eye roll did nothing for his state of mind and his threw his hands up in resignation. "Bloody hell!"

Having had enough of both of them for one night, Rose turned to walk off but not before delivering a parting shot at the Doctor. "You were right, you _are _alien!"

"Look," the bristling tone gave both pause, Kaullus suddenly feeling his fight-or-flight system engaging, as the Doctor stated crisply, "if I did forget some kid named Mickey."

"Yeah," Rose snapped, whirling round on him "first off, he's not a kid."

But the Doctor continued like she hadn't said a word, harsh and angry, "It's because I'm too busy trying to save the life of every other _stupid_ ape blundering about on top of this planet, alright?"

"Alright?!" as her furious reply.

"Yes! It is!"

"NO! IT! ISN'T!" The Doctor suddenly found himself face to face with a blindingly angry Tahkaullus glaring at him with all the fury of a raging maelstrom. Though he stood at five foot nine whilst the Doctor stood over six foot, the glowering eyes definitely brought him up to the alien's level. "Now you listen here, _Time Lord," _he relished the flabbergasted look _that_ got out of the aloof Doctor, "this world, these _stupid apes_ as you call them, and everything else concerning it, is _my responsibility!" _His voice echoed that statement, carrying out across the Thames "That means every life lost to these things, every man killed, every woman shot, every child slaughtered, is on _my shoulders!" _Like before when the Doctor showed the turn of the Earth, the wind began to pick up, licking at Kaullus' coattails sending them blowing out behind him. "So don't think you can just bluster in here, all charm and wit and fire and expect me to take it! This world was mine long before it was ever yours!" To his amazement, for a moment Kaullus could swear he saw the Doctor falter. But he didn't take long to relish in it, his anger spent. So he just gave the Doctor a spiteful glare before going back over to the embankment and leaning on the stone, staring at the inky black river below.

For Rose's part, she had stood silent and in shock as Kaullus unloaded on the Doctor, all previous looks of endearment from earlier in the day being rendered obsolete by the outlet. After he was done, she felt her own frustration and anger fizzle out, Kaullus words having done enough for the both of them. What could she say to that? Ask why he sounded from the north?

Instead she tried to look for a safer topic to talk about, though looking at the moody alien, and the equally angry Kaullus gave her no answers. So she looked up at the blue box the Doctor was leaning against. "What's a police public call box?"

The Doctor glanced at her, then up at the writing on the TARDIS. "It's a telephone box," he answered, "from the 1950s." He patted the door affectionately and grinned at it with a tad bit of smugness, "It's a disguise."

Kaullus' snort was timed perfectly with Rose's smile of disbelief. They glanced at each other, the same thought running through their heads at that moment: _Yep, definitely alien._ As if a phone box from fifty years ago wasn't going to attract attention.

Shaking her head, Rose figured getting back on the important topic was probably best. "Okay. So this living plastic," she pressed, "what's it got against us?"

"Nothing," the Doctor replied instantly, "it loves you lot."

"Yeah, so that explains why they keep invading us?" Kaullus muttered sarcastically, turning around and leaning back, arms folded.

"It does," the Doctor insisted, though his look said that he was filing away the exact phrasing Kaullus had used to address later "you've got such a good planet here. All full of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs." He'd started pacing, getting into the groove a bit. Kaullus rolled his eyes at the act, recognising the Doctor's growing joy of having someone to explain everything too – he was like a teenager sometimes, always looking for a way to show off his knowledge. "It's food stock was destroyed in the war. All it's protein planets rotted. So Earth?" He grinned. "Dinner."

"You are enjoying this way too much, Satellite Ears."

"Shut it, Mr Poet."

"Oi!"

"So!" Rose spoke up, looking between the two of them in exasperation. "Any way of stopping it?"

The grinning loon just reached into his leather jacket, as if he'd been waiting for someone to ask that oh-so-obvious question all night, and produced a vial full of blue liquid. At the sight of it, Kaullus frowned, "Isn't that…?"

"Anti-plastic." The Doctor finished confidently.

"Anti-plastic?" Rose repeated, again not entirely believing what she heard.

"Anti-plastic!" He said again, prodding the vial once or twice, before his grin gave way to a lost, albeit serious, expression. "But first I've gotta find it." He admitted glumly. "How do you hide something that big in a city this small?"

"Hold on," Rose stopped him, "hide what?"

"Oh…" Kaullus' voice drew them back to him, and he stared right at the Doctor. "Oh that's clever. The Consciousness has a base of operations somewhere here in London, using a transmitter to _directly _control every piece of plastic at once." He glanced back out over the Thames to the London Eye. "But for a signal that strong and a dish that size…" Kaullus' eyes suddenly returned to the vial in the Doctor's hands. "The Consciousness is here? On Earth?" He'd just figured that it was controlling the Autons and Duplicates from somewhere in space and they were going after the transmitter…but if the Consciousness itself was here. "But that's suicide! Even if its plan was successful and plastic took over the world, resistance fighters would sooner or later find its lair and kill it! What the hell is it thinking?!"

"It didn't have much in the way of choice." The Doctor replied solemnly.

"And what does that mean?" Silence was Kaullus' reward for that question.

The air was once again decidedly tense, and once again it was Rose that got them back on a more operative subject, "So the transmitter…what does it look like?"

The Doctor instantly got going again, moving off from the TARDIS and wandering along the embankment. "Like a transmitter!" He replied unhelpfully, even as Rose and Kaullus set off in pursuit of him, "Round and massive, somewhere slap bang in the middle of London." His agitation grew as he scanned the landscape, going past the London Eye twice. Kaullus followed, rolling his eyes as, once again, the Doctor overlooked the obvious. "A huge circular metal structure, like a dish," the Doctor continued, turning to face them both, his back to the railings with the London Eye now directly behind him, "like a wheel." He went on to say, "Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible."

_He can be such an idiot sometimes._ Kaullus mused, staring at the Eye.

"What?" The Doctor asked, catching his stare.

Rose, who had seen the Eye for what it really was as well, just nodded at it along with Kaullus.

The Doctor turned around, completely nonplussed, stared right at the Eye and then turned back to face them. "What?"

The pair of them just stared at each other in disbelief. Rose shook her head, but still kept her eyes on the Eye, and Kaullus started counting down from ten. _Deep breaths, Kaullus. That's what they keep telling you. Deep breaths._

Again the Doctor turned around and looked _directly at the freaking transmitter_. And still he flicked right back, with no sense of comprehension at all. "What is it?" He asked them again, "What?"

"Doctor." Kaullus growled, his patience growing thin. "You will turn around one more time. You will look at it. And you will get it. If you don't I will most assuredly punch you."

"Punch me for what? What is it?" The Doctor looked back at the London Eye again, and this time he _saw._ He flicked back around again, realisation dawning. "Oh." He looked back at it again, turning back around, his inane grin in place.

"Fantastic!" And with that he was running off towards London Bridge.

Sighing, Kaullus glanced at Rose. "He gets there in the end, doesn't he?" But he too was smiling and was soon dashing off, "Come on if you're coming, Rose!"

A few minutes later found the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Tahkaullus Neuvo running across London Bridge. Rose, in the middle, had a hand held by one of the others', the Doctor on her right, Kaullus on the left, once again, for the first time.

* * *

**A/N: **Oh wow. Tempers got a bit high there eh? And look at that! Kaullus can fly the TARDIS, although with her help. What does this mean? Is he another River Song? Has he got orders to kill the Doctor too? Am I completely ruining the story by telling you that? Hell no! He's got his own backstory that I'll go into when I get to that point! Which might take a while, we've got several seasons to get through before we reach that.  
Anyway, I figured this would be a good chance to get a look at how Kaullus would respond to the Doctor calling the humans 'stupid apes.' As it's been stated, he doesn't care much for them, but that doesn't mean he'll just leave them to die. And he rather likes Mickey so of course he's going to get pissed at the Doctor for that. Just because they're friends in the Doctor and Rose's future doesn't mean they always get along. In fact, this isn't the last time that Nine and Kaullus are gonna butt heads. Do the Gelth ring any bells?  
Anyway, one more chapter to go! Then I can write up a brief summary of End of The World and then its The Unquiet Dead! Yay! Dickens and Ghosts! At Christmas!


	6. The Nestene Consciousness

**A/N:** And here it is. The ending to the Auton mishap of 2005. Kaullus gets a bit of the limelight in this so make sure to drop me a line if this seems a bit too much for you to take. Frankly I think I made his role a bit too big but I wanted to get the point across that he considers himself Earth's primary defence, not the Doctor. Tell me what you think.  
Right, don't own, never will, but Kaullus is mine and he eats Daleks for breakfast so that's something.  
Now then, end of 'Rose,_' _have fun, bye bye!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**The Nestene Consciousness**

They crossed the bridge in what had to be record time. Then again, it was a Time Lord and a Tahkaullus pulling Rose along so that might have slowed them down. _Ah, won't be a problem for long._ Kaullus reasoned with himself as they neared the Eye. _For all I know she'll be fit and brunette again the next time I see them. And the Doctor will be floppy hair and 'bow-ties are cool…' My life is weird._

He distracted himself by staring around at all the ignorant humans walking along, some of them turning to scowl at the unruly threesome that was dashing along the street, getting in their way. Every single one of them completely oblivious to the imminent impending doom that awaited them if said unruly threesome didn't do something about it. More than anything, Kaullus wanted to call Eye up and order a precision bombing on the London Eye, just finish it then and there. But even precision strikes weren't precise, and civilians would be killed in the attack. Not to mention it would raise far too many questions, from both the Doctor and the media, that he just didn't want to answer.

So it was down to the three of them…a grumpy Time Lord, his inexperienced soon-to-be companion and him. _If I didn't know these people I'd say we were screwed. _Kaullus thought to himself morosely.

He shook it off though as they arrived at the foot of the London Eye, Rose pausing to catch her breath from what she would one day compare as a 'brisk stroll' to what she was by then used to. The Doctor however, was on his game tonight as he immediately started looking around. "Think of it," he went on, sounding unashamedly thrilled, "plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing just waiting to come alive; shop window dummies, the telephone wires, the cables…"

"The breast implants." Rose couldn't help but add.

"Oh thanks!" Kaullus groused, wincing at the mental image that had given him. "Now I'm going to be thinking about women's tits jiggling around like nobody's business." Well, at least she had the sense to look a bit sorry for that. But still! _Breast implants waiting to get loose?! Knew I should've interfered with her friendship with that Shireen! _He caught himself as he thought that…_sweet lord that sounded parental!_

"Anyway," the Doctor said swiftly, wanting to move on from that thought as well, "we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

"Well it wouldn't go for big and speculative." Kaullus reasoned, "So we're looking at maybe underneath the bank. Hell maybe even underneath the Thames."

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"What about down here?" Both of them turned to Rose. She'd gotten her second wind and had moved over to the balustrade of the embankment. Kaullus and the Doctor joined her and took a look at what she'd spotted. Hidden just out of sight by the embankment they could just make out the grating of an entrance to a manhole.

Grinning, the Doctor answered, "Looks good to me." and ran down the steps, with Rose and Kaullus right behind him.

Once they got all the way down, Kaullus and the Doctor worked at getting the top open, twisting it around and then pulling it up, letting out a heavy puff of steam and a jet of heat. Kaullus had to fight the urge to wipe his brow and took a moment to consider whether or not wearing his leather duster in there would be practical, or comfortable for that matter. Then he glanced at the Doctor, who seemed completely content to keep going as he was, and decided then and there to keep it on. No smug Time Lord was getting the better of him today! He noticed the wrinkled nose of one Rose Tyler and couldn't help the smirk that plastered itself neatly on his face. _Get used to it Rose. This'll be one of the nicer aromas you'll smell, running with us. You haven't seen Elizabethan England yet._

Wasting no time, they climbed down the ladder, the Doctor first, then Rose, and finally Kaullus, into the heat filled chamber. Once they got to the bottom they were met by another locked door, which the Doctor, being only a hair faster than Kaullus in getting out his screwdriver, unlocked with a quick buzz. The open door led to another chamber, and now Kaullus too was gagging at the smell that was rising up from the pit below, forget the Elizabethan era, _this _was the worst thing he'd ever smelled. Molten plastic, tonnes of it, all of it kept hot and smelly.

_How does he do it? _He thought as he watched the Doctor walk along, the scent seemingly not bothering him at all. Kaullus knew for a fact that the Doctor's sense of smell was more acute than his own, even more so when it came to humans. So how was he doing it? Even his respiratory bypass system had to refill at some point.

Descending some steps, they finally got a look, and smell, of it. A huge orangey, molten mass of _stink_ was flailing about in a huge vat in the centre of the chamber. "The Nestene Consciousness," the Doctor said in a hushed voice, "that's it in the vat. A living plastic creature."

"Not much of a looker, is it?" Kaullus murmured back, still in awe of the creature's…_stench. _"Then again, if you smell like _that_, I'm surprised its parents let it leave the house."

"It has to be kept hot." The Doctor explained with a touch of amusement in his voice as he glanced at the disgusted faces of his two accomplices. "Lower the temperature too much and it would freeze up like any piece of plastic. It'd die slowly…possibly over hours as its own skin begins to crush it."

The description made Kaullus wince. He'd seen people go like that before, their outside becoming their prison as their bodies slowly killed them. The only way you knew if they were in any pain would be if you looked at their eyes…everything could be seen in their eyes. No one deserved to die like that.

"Well then." Rose said, a bit shaken up from the Doctor's description as well. "You just tip in your anti-plastic and we can get out of here, yeah?"

The Doctor glared at her for a second, while Kaullus sighed. _Oh Rose. Still so young. _She'd get better though.

"I'm not here to kill it." The Doctor said sharply, "I've gotta give it a chance." Moving away from her, he made his way down some more steps – they were in one of the old smelting pits by the look of the place – and halted when the Consciousness warbled something at him.

At least, to Rose it was all a mass of unintelligible gibberish. To Kaullus though, who still had his key on him – linking him up with the TARDIS' telepathic field – the Consciousness' words were clear to him as his own native Urdu language that he hadn't used in centuries.

_"Substances of marrow and blood."_ The plastic creature addressed the three of them. _"You have trespassed upon our sanctuary. We have little time for you."_

That was a dismissal if ever Kaullus heard one. Then again, the Doctor didn't work by the laws of anyone but his own, and so he leaned forward and said loudly, "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract." That was the way to go; show the Consciousness it was recognised. And then, just to sweeten the deal, the Doctor added, "According to convention fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation."

The Consciousness regarded the Doctor for a moment before stating, _"You have the right, marrow-substance." _Though the admittance sounded incredibly forced.

_Well, this is new. _Kaullus thought to himself. _Isn't this usually the bit where everything goes to pot?_ Suddenly realising though that the Doctor had pretty much elected himself as Earth's defendant, Kaullus quickly shouted. "Objection!"

"What?!"

"_Your objection is noted, marrow-substance." _The Consciousness replied dismissively, _"This one though has been chosen to-"_

"Article Two of the Terran Archives, Sub-section Four stating to the formation of the Shadow Proclamation." He quickly recited, "In the event that designated planet Terra Firma is engaged in Peaceful Contract with foreign powers, only a recognised citizen indigenous to planet Terra may treat with the foreign power."

The Doctor quickly pulled him back. "What're you doing?" He demanded hushly.

"Like I said Doctor." Kaullus replied, shrugging him off, "My planet. My responsibility." Pushing the Doctor back he addressed the Consciousness again. "As Terra's last indigenous birth-child, I claim right of defence in these proceedings."

The Consciousness was silent for a while before it practically hissed at Kaullus, _"You have the right."_

"Thank you." He said with relief. "That I might have permission to approach."

"_Granted."_

Just as well it did grant them permission, because Rose suddenly darted forwards, rushing down the stairs. "Oh my god! Mickey!" Ah, that would explain it. He didn't need to look behind him to know that the Doctor had let out a _very _deep sigh in the face of such…_domesticity,_ but chose not to comment on it. She was squatted down next to him by the time they caught up, comforting the rather odious Mickey Smith.

"That thing down there!" He was jabbering as they approached, "That thing, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!"

"Ugh, you're stinking." She looked up in time to see them arrive, "They kept him alive!"

The Doctor shrugged, "Yeah that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."

"You knew that and you never said?!" She snapped at him, annoyance coming back.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you." The Doctor asked, and then started down the last set of stairs before any reply could be given, just a step or two behind Kaullus.

For his bit, Kaullus had his hands in his pockets, his left curled around the sonic if he needed it. Time and experience had taught him to always be prepared for situations like this. If negotiations went south, he'd want to be able to fight his way to the Doctor to get the anti-plastic. A part of him acknowledged with a bit of relief that Mickey was alright, genuinely glad to know that he was alive, but the rest of him was too focussed on the Nestene Consciousness to let anything else get through right now. He and the Doctor stopped on a platform right in front of the Consciousness, but before he spoke, Kaullus whispered to the Doctor, "If things start to get hairy, pass me the you-know-what."

"Not sure you can handle it now?"

"No, but when it comes to dealing with your enemies, nothing ever goes as we plan." Giving him that little piece to chew on, Kaullus brought his full concentration to the vat a few feet away from him. "Am I addressing the Consciousness?"

"_You have been granted audience." _The Consciousness snarled, _"Waste no more of our time."_

"Well excuse me!" He snarked back, "I was just checking. Anyway," he cleared his throat and began again, "Now, if I might observe, a few weeks ago you infiltrated this planet by means of…what did it use?" He asked the Doctor aside.

"Warp shunt."

"Ah yes, thanks." He returned his attention to the Consciousness "By means of Warp Shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest of respect, that you shunt off?"

The Consciousness was _not _amused. _"You dare presume to give orders to the Nestene Consciousness?! Our constitutional rights, laid down by the Shadow Proclamation -!" _

"Do you think I was born yesterday?!" Kaullus snapped right back at it. "I know an invasion when I see one. Your initial assault, this day previous, gives me right of defence to warrant your execution as set down by the original Shadow Proclamation under Article Two Sub-section Five!"

"_Who do you presume you are?!" _The Consciousness roared at him, furious at the rights being put forth before it. _"We are the Nestene Consciousness! We are eternal in our power! We grant life from the lifeless! We are gods among you! You should be in awe and grateful that we choose your world as our harvest!"_

There were three words once spoken that captured Kaullus' mind forever when he first met the Doctor, three words that froze entire armadas over the skies in England. Three words that inspired him to rediscover his strength and his self-worth; that helped him start on his path to becoming a worthy defender of his planet. And it was those three words that he bellowed now, loud and authoritative.

"I – AM – TALKING!"

His voice echoed around the chamber and the Consciousness fell silent again, seemingly cowed by his show of aggression. "I'm offering you a chance to leave," he continued, more subdued, "the Doctor," he indicated the Time Lord beside him, "can find you a world where you can feast to your content. But not here. Not on my planet!"

"_And where else would we go?! Our worlds were burned to ashes! Our food stocks gone! Where can we go that can sustain us other than here?" _

"I don't give a damn." He stated sharply. "You have this one chance. I suggest you take it." Taking a deep breath he folded his arms and glanced at the Doctor, who was just looking at him again with that calculating stare. Ignoring him for now, Kaullus returned his focus to the Nestene Consciousness. "Look, I know what it's like to have the world turned upside down on you. I do. But you don't get anywhere by subjugating others. This planet still has so much potential. These silly little humans may be suffocating it, but give them a chance and this world is capable of so much more. I'm asking you on its behalf – not the humans' – please, just go."

"Look out!" Rose's warning came a second too late as he suddenly found himself being restrained by two Autons. This led to pissing him off and he glared angrily at the flobbling mass of silly putty beneath him. Pulling round, he was all set to throw them into their creator and then grab the anti-plastic from the Doctor…if he hadn't seen that the Doctor was being restrained as well.

Turning furious eyes back to the Consciousness, Kaullus shouted at it. "You're trying my patience! Unhand me now or I will execute my rights of defence!"

But the Consciousness merely snarled back at him, rising out of its vat slightly. _"You dare preach terms of peace to us, and yet you bring The Destroyer of Worlds into our midst!"_

"What?" He struggled around to face the Doctor "What's it on about?"

"_Rotting our worlds did not sate your appetite, Doctor?!" _The creature screamed. One of the Autons holding the Doctor delved into his jacket pocket, rummaged around and then pulled out again. In its plastic hand was the vial of anti-plastic. _"This is Time Lord treachery!"_ The Consciousness's cries shook the entire chamber.

"That was just insurance!" The Doctor pleaded, "I wasn't gonna use it! I swear!"

Kaullus was moved away to one side as the Doctor was forced up to the front, like a prisoner on display to his judge, jury, and executioner. Right now, the Consciousness only wanted to focus on those first two. _"You come to us yet again, Doctor, claiming good will to all life. Yet now we hold proof of your aggressive nature and intents!"_

"I was not attacking you. I'm here to help." The Doctor told it desperately, trying futilely to inch himself away from the edge of the platform. "Please! I'm not your enemy. I swear I'm not –"

"_And yet you bring your Time Lord weapon with you!"_

"What?" The Doctor ceased struggling for a moment, unclear as to the Consciousness's meaning. "What d'you mean?" A creaking of metal and cranks brought their attention to another platform behind them, near to where Rose and Mickey were watching them, a section of the wall sliding up to reveal the TARDIS sat there. "No!" The Doctor cried out in terror, seeing it there "Oh no, no – honestly no!"

"_Is this not your Time Lord vessel?!"_

"Yes…" he replied, defeated "that's my ship."

The Nestene Consciousness's roars became a deafening hue of fury and terror _"Versions of this construct were present at the fall of Polymos! Our birth-world – our livestock rotted to nothing and your brethren watched on! Laughing!"_

"But…but that's not true!" The Doctor protested, a tinge of sorrow slipping into his tone. Kaullus was pulled back so he couldn't see, but he had a niggling bet that the Doctor's face was contorted in a mix of loss and reminiscence…and guilt, there was always guilt when he recounted the Time War. "I should know, I was there! I fought in the War – it wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"

"_These proceedings have ended!" _The Consciousness howled, _"We shall now begin the final phase!"_

Hearing the creature's conclusion, Kaullus strained forward, pulling his captors with him. "Don't do this!"

All around them the ground was shaking horribly, as if the Nestene Consciousness had buried itself all the way into the core of the planet and was now tearing the world apart from the inside out. "What's it doing?!" Rose called out, holding tight onto the railing, watching as the Consciousness started to glow.

"It's the TARDIS!" The Doctor shouted back, still struggling with his captors. "The Nestene's identified its superior technology – its terrified!" Even as he said this, the Consciousness's glow focused to a pinpoint becoming an irradiated white. "It's going to the final phase." He finished unnecessarily.

_No…_Kaullus pulled harder, trying to work his arms out of the grip of the Autons…_not like this. It can't end before its begun! It can't…_He flung himself, and the Autons around, setting his eyes on Rose, _it won't get her! _"It's starting the invasion!" He yelled to her, "Get out of here now! Take Mickey, get up those stairs and get as far away from here as you can! Just leg it, now!"

He'd hoped that, because this was a younger version of Rose, that she'd actually have the sense to listen to him and the Doctor. Then again, this younger version of Rose had gone on the internet searching for anything to do with the Doctor, after being expressly told not to get any more involved. And frankly that was usually what the Doctor looked for in companions so why was he bothering? This was all academic of course because right now, Rose had gotten her phone out.

_Oh tell me she's not…_

"Mum?" She was. End of the world and Rose was calling Jackie. "Where are you, mum? Look just go home! Go home right now!" The frustrated/terrified look on her face slipped to one of annoyance as the conversation went on, culminating with aggravated. "Mum! Mum?!"

_Hung up on her eh? _Kaullus was brought back from that very unusual distraction by the familiar crackle of an electronic discharge and he spun back round to face the Consciousness. The pinpoint had blasted out towards the signal, undoubtedly right into the framework of the London Eye.

_There goes the activation signal._ He could see it in his mind's eye now, just like the Doctor had said. Right now across the whole planet, shop window dummies were coming 'online' smashing glass out of the way as they took their first steps. The first set of humans they came to would be the first of the twenty first century to experience their rather concealed blasters. London would be turned into a war zone in a few short minutes as police forces were overrun and the mannequins started to take to the streets. The pedestrians would be the first in line then, gunned down at bus stops or on the sidewalks. Then vehicles would be targeted spreading the chaos.

The days of flesh and bone were ending, right now, on the twenty-seventh of March, 2005…and Kaullus was now truly terrified. All the times he'd crashed into the two of them, all those adventures, all that history was about to be wiped out. He'd never get to laugh at the Doctor's banana craze, never get to teach Rose how to Tango, never play 'Who's the Bigger Flirt?' with Jack just to piss the Doctor off, or show Martha some proper Shakespeare, solve mysteries with the plucky Donna, never get to watch the sitcom glory that was Amy and Rory Pond. He'd go back to being a useless nothing, with nothing to fight for and no one to believe in, loafing around Stonehenge because it was older even than him. His greatest fear…

But that was the Nestene Consciousness's second mistake. Because when Tahkaullus Neuvo gets scared, he also gets angry. And when Tahkaullus Neuvo is angry, bad things happen.

"_Watch, Doctor!" _The Consciousness taunted_ "Watch as your beloved planet becomes the nesting grounds of new Polymos!"_

The Doctor couldn't care less, as he strained back on his plastic captors. "Get out Rose!" He yelled to her "Just get out now!"

Another rumble cut him off as a section of the ceiling, unable to take the sheer pressure of the Consciousness's transmission, collapsed in, taking the stairs they'd come down with it. With that route gone, Rose pulled Mickey up and dragged him over to the TARDIS, only to find the doors locked. "I haven't got the key!" She called out frantically.

"We're gonna die!" Mickey mewled pathetically, cowering at the foot of the TARDIS.

At the moment though, Kaullus had more on his mind than the TARDIS, because he was now furious with the Nestene Consciousness for daring to upset his future and his past. All thoughts of mercy and gentility went out the door to be replaced by the cool, calculated mind of Terra's last Guardian. And at last, he stopped holding back. The intrinsic flaw of Autons was their flexibility; unlike Duplicates who had far much more manoeuvrability due to the Consciousness exuding more thought into it, Autons were only as flexible as the mannequins brought to life allowed. Therefore, all he needed to do to escape them was to stop pulling his way out and instead just slide out. As such he stopped resisting the Autons holding him and let his arms go limp. Then, holding them straight, he ran forwards freeing himself.

The Consciousness roared something, likely to get him back under control, but he wasn't paying much attention. His prior captors had pulled him closer to the stairs after the transmission was set off and, what with all his pushing and shoving, he now found himself two steps up. A low whirring gave away the Autons' knuckles unhinging, but he didn't much care about that right now. What he did care about was getting to Rose and then finding a way to help the Doctor finish this.

_We need that anti-plastic. _Putting that thought on hold he dashed up the stairs, a hair fast enough to dodge the first Auton's blaster. Back up on Rose and Mickey's level, he ran around the railing to them and knelt down beside Rose who was comforting her bumbling boyfriend. "We haven't got much time," he told her, "so listen. That anti-plastic is the only way we're going to end this now. But the stairs are guarded," And now he looked Rose directly in the eye before continuing, "I can distract them, but there's a good chance that they'll just kill him anyway if I do that. Which means it's up to you to help him."

"Are you mental?!" Mickey screamed at him, ducking further into Rose's bosom when he was fixed with a very steely glare. "Rose, listen, just leave him!"

But Rose was looking beyond them both, down at the Doctor who was still pulling frantically, trying to get loose, or at least grab the anti-plastic. Kaullus followed her gaze, and despite all the crap that was going on despite the end of the world happening above them, he felt that same admiration that he always felt for that mad man. Always trying, always fighting. _Never asking for anything back, never anyone less selfish._

The Consciousness chose now to gloat again as the Doctor was dragged towards the very tip of the platform. _"Where now is your vaunted knowledge and power, Time Lord?"_

A gasp from beside him, brought his attention back to Rose, who had now stood and was looking around for something, a set look of decisiveness in her stance. The Doctor also turned back to look at her, a look of uncertainty creasing his brow, trying to figure out what she was about to do. She looked down then at Kaullus. "You need the anti-plastic." She stated firmly. "You've got it." And then she was running, ignoring Mickey's protests, across the platform again to the wall, grabbing a fire axe as she went.

Completely against everything he was feeling right now – fear of losing his timeline, anger at the creature for endangering his world, hatred for it to even dare coming here and risking the previous two – Kaullus grinned. That was his Rose he saw right now! And just like that, he was running along too, back down the stairs towards the Autons, activating his wrist blades. The Autons in return aimed their weapons at him.

"Alright, you artificial fashion disasters! You've endangered my world," one whirr as a knuckle unhinged, "threatened my timeline," another whirr, "captured my friends," a third whirr, "and quite frankly, I've got no plan whatsoever…but I'll tell you what she's got."

He smirked as he watched Rose smashed the axe into a chain, setting it loose and pulling it down a bit more. "Jericho Street Junior School under seven's gymnastics team." And now his smirk was a full on grin as she took hold of the chain and started to run towards the edge. "Our girl there has the bronze."

Even as Kaullus finished his words, Rose's feet had left the ground and she was swinging towards the Doctor. Stretching her legs out, she kicked one Auton off of him, sending it right into the Nestene Consciousness where it promptly melted…anti-plastic included. The pain-filled cry that erupted beat on their eardrums, shaking the entire chamber structure as it riled in unhidden agony. The quakes were enough to give the Doctor a chance to get loose and he pulled the second Auton off of him, throwing it too back to daddy.

While this was all happening, Kaullus had gone on the offensive. He stabbed into the Auton on the left with his wrist blades, ducking as the other two opened fire. Before they could get off another volley, he pulled the third to him and promptly sliced it up – his blades had been fashioned to cut through the hardest metal they had (Dalekenium), cutting up plastic in comparison was like running a knife through butter. Then he threw its remains at the other two before grabbing the second one with one hand and running his free hand, blade and all, across the Auton's middle, cutting it in half. Before the third could get a shot off, Kaullus came at it with both blades, slashing down diagonally from shoulders to hips. The Auton collapsed into four equal segments.

"Rose!" He turned his attention to the Doctor as he reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down to the safety of his arms, grinning like a loon as he stared at the furious Nestene Consciousness. "Now we're in trouble."

"Well let's not stand around then, eh!" Kaullus called out to them, grabbing hold of the stair rails as another quake hit the chamber and they all made their way back up the stairs. The Doctor promptly took the lead, something that Kaullus muttered about, but shut up when Rose fixed him with a look that said 'leave it.' Rolling his eyes at the sight of Mickey clinging to the TARDIS as if it were a life preserver, it took both him and Rose to pry him away so the Doctor could get his key into the lock. Mickey promptly made a fool out of himself by scrambling in on all fours and squealing in disbelief at where he found himself.

Chortling, the Doctor and Kaullus dashed up to the console, leaving Rose to tend to her catatonic boyfriend.

Outside the TARDIS, the Nestene Consciousness's screams became less pitched, its struggles less frequent, as the anti-plastic sank into its system, corroding its genetic make-up like any proper poison. Gradually, ever so gradually, it slowed to a halt, its systems shutting down until finally it just…stopped. The transmission cut out, the life-giving thoughts came to an end. One of the oldest creatures in the universe had finally come to an end at the hands of one small human girl who remembered her childhood gymnastics.

It's funny how the universe works, isn't it?

After much arguing and disagreements over how to fly the TARDIS to safety, wherein Kaullus brought up the user's manual and the Doctor scoffing at the need for such a thing ('You disagreed with it, didn't you?' 'I can fly the TARDIS just fine!'), they finally brought her to a halt somewhere a little way off from the Powell Estate. Mickey was the first to stumble out, tripping over his feet and scurrying away from the box even then, terrified over how his evening had gone. Then came Rose, who just stepped out casually, still high on the moment, phone in hand.

Kaullus was next, cracking his neck a bit and looking a bit bored. _Another day, another explosion._ A relieved laugh beside him told him all he needed to know regarding Jackie, which reminded him. Putting a hand to his ear, he activated his comlink. "Eye, Guardian here. You guys haven't been taken over by plastic have you?"

"_Is that some sort of weird euphemism?" _Nina replied. _"Everyone's fine here, Guardian. No silly little living vat of plastic's going to bring us down." _

"Good to hear. My car's still in Uxbridge, would you mind sending someone over to get it?"

"_Raze is in the area, I'll call him up."_

"Okay, but make sure he doesn't get fleas in the leather." He warned, "Right then, I'll see you later."

"_You'd better."_ And the comm. went silent.

Lowering his hand from his ear he turned to face the TARDIS again, raising an eyebrow at the Doctor who was leaning against the door with a smug grin on his face. "Don't know what you're smiling about." He stated, "What good were you in there?"

"Nestene Consciousness?" The Doctor just snapped his fingers, as if all the madness that had happened seconds ago was all part of the plan. "Easy!"

"Oh come off it, the pair of you!" They looked over at Rose who had run over to the still whimpering Mickey who was staring at the Doctor as if he were the devil himself. For Rose's part though she was just smirking teasingly at them both. "The two of you were absolutely useless in there. You'd be dead if it hadn't been for me."

"Well." Kaullus stuck his hands in his coat pockets, head cocked a little bit, regarding her with a considering smile.

The Doctor though was, for the first time today, straight up in agreement. "Yes, I would…thank you."

"Whoa! Don't hurt yourself there." The grin on Kaullus' face diffused the sting of his words though, "I think that was a compliment there, don't you think that was a compliment Rose?"

"Definitely a compliment."

"Oh shut it." It was probably the first conversation between the three of them all day that was completely jesting and no sarcasm – leaving out Kaullus' natural need for it – or biting remarks. Which left two of the three of them at a quandary until the Doctor broke the silence, standing up straight again, shrugging his coat a bit. "Right then! I'll be off!" And yet he regarded Rose for a moment, that same intrigue that Kaullus had spotted before slipping back in, "Unless, uh…I dunno…you could come with me."

_For someone who's just stared death in the face, _Kaullus noted as he watched the Doctor shuffle about,_ he seems a bit nervous. _Glancing at Rose told him nothing, she'd just put her hands in her pockets and was looking back at the Doctor.

"This box isn't just a London hopper, you know," the Doctor continued, "it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."

This was it! The glee from yesterday afternoon was back as Kaullus glanced back at Rose, she was still blank faced, keeping her response close. But surely he should be able to make out _someth-_

"Don't!" Ah…they'd forgotten about their fourth member who was clutching Rose's legs, "He's an alien! He's a thing!"

_Not a smart thing to say to the guy who could drop you in a black hole if he felt like it._ Kaullus noted, staring at Mickey with a level of disgust and pity.

The Doctor merely stated, "He's _not _invited. What d'you think?"

For a moment, Kaullus felt the trepidation of exploration calling his name. All of it, time and space just waiting to be seen by new eyes. So much to see with so little time. But then the other voice called his name, the one he'd chosen to always listen to when temptation came along. The voice that would always trump anything else. And he sighed, shaking his head. "I can't." He stated simply, noting the Doctor's crestfallen appearance. "All of that out there, its big and amazing and ridiculous. But it's not for my eyes to see. This is where I belong, Earth. Space is your stage Doctor, not mine. It's okay though, you'll be seeing me again pretty soon now."

The way the Doctor's eyes lit up shouldn't have been as funny as they seemed. "Is that right?" He asked, intrigued beyond measure. "And just how will I know you?"

"Oh I think you'll know me."

"You still haven't answered the biggest question though." He stated, arms folding as he regarded Kaullus, a small frown. "Who are you?"

There were a few ways he could've answered that, he could've told the Doctor that he was just a friend and left it at that. He could've said he was taking the slow path while the Doctor came via the quick route. He could've given him a convoluted mess of an explanation that boiled down to the timelines always converging on the three of them. He could've said anything. But the way that Kaullus chose was probably the only real way he could answer the Doctor – or, at least, this Doctor.

He merely put his hands in his pockets, put on a mischievous grin and said, in a tone that just begged for trouble, "Spoilers."

Sometimes, River's way was best.

"Oh." The glum face nearly had him cracking up. But the Doctor quickly covered it up and turned to Rose who had been watching their interaction with interest, likely the same question on her mind. "So just the two of us then? Or not? You could stay here, fill your life with food and work and sleep, or you could go, uh…anywhere."

And now Kaullus backed up, glancing at Rose, who was finally showing a hint of exhilaration at the 'anywhere' bit. But there still seemed to be a torn expression between adventure and…cowering boyfriends attached to her leg apparently…and maybe Jackie, though the vaunted Tyler Slap should've kept her safe enough. Finally she asked, "Is it always this dangerous?"

Here the Doctor practically glowed as he answered, "Yeah!"

That prompted Mickey to reach up and wrap his arms right at the top of Rose's legs, pressing his face into her hip. _Huh…_Kaullus thought…_and I thought Pinstripes was the ultimate manchild. I guess it's nice to be proven wrong every now and again._ Still he had always wondered what it had been that necessitated the Doctor to ask her twice. He'd only asked about her coming along with them once.

'_He asked me twice! I don't just go off with the first chap I see.'_

'_Always has it her own way…the only one I've ever asked twice…and I'm glad I did.'_

_This _was what brought it on though? _Heroes. Never meet them. _He sighed at the uselessness of thinking that as Rose, expectedly, declined, though it was clearly reluctant, "Yeah, I can't…I've gotta go find my mum and, well…" she patted Mickey on the head with a fond laugh of exasperation "someone's gotta look after this stupid lump…" the laugh cut off though as, again, the reality of things slammed into her, the smile slipping off her face.

The Doctor looked absolutely dejected…though you had to look for it in that cleverly shielded expression of his. But the way to find pain is always through the eyes and that was where Kaullus found the emotion. Poor fool was all on his own in his big blue box. The TARDIS herself was probably questioning him about what he'd told her yesterday now. Sighing, the Doctor nodded sharply, "Okay…" he said simply… "see you around…?"

_Probably, if things went differently, you'd never come back to this century._ Kaullus thought as he watched the Doctor back up into the TARDIS, never once taking his eyes off of him and Rose. His gaze was still on them even as the door closed, sealing him away in that impossible blue box. And glancing at Rose, Kaullus saw that she hadn't taken her eyes off of him either, her own intense gaze still fixed on the closed doors wondering what she had just turned down. Then the familiar sound of the TARDIS engines began to rev up, followed by the groaning whirr of the ship as, from the bottom up, it faded out into nothing, the light on the top of the box flashing out last.

Rose was still staring at the spot where it had been, though Mickey looked promptly spooked and it was only his whimpers of shock that brought her back into reality. Looking down at him, she kneeled and pulled him up onto his feet, though now it was him who couldn't stop staring at the spot where the TARDIS had been. "C'mon," she urged him, tugging him slightly, "come on, let's go."

As for Kaullus? He smirked and wondered over to a nearby dustbin and leaned against it.

_Three…two…one…_

It would seem like a few seconds to them, but in the time he was gone the Doctor wondered off to the Kennedy Assassination to find some closure for the Time War. When that had only reminded him of how the Master had manipulated events of Gallifrey to frame him for the assassination of his own President, the Doctor moved on to 1912, April tenth, where he met a charming little family whose tickets he managed to swipe to get his own first class room on the most infamous ocean liner of them all. Five days later he sat on the Carpathia, asking himself why he'd even bothered getting into one of the lifeboats. He then took a spin over to 1886, the night the Crackatoa blew its top...only to wash up on an island a few miles east. At last he got the message, he wasn't dying any time soon. That left him with a problem with what to do with himself.

And then he remembered those two amazing individuals he'd met in the basement of a shop that he then subsequently blew up. The man who seemed to know way too much about him for his own good, who had his own sonic screwdriver but was clearly not Gallifreyan, and was ready to force him to step down in order to protect the world he'd charged himself with defending. And then that girl, hardly yet a woman, who never stopped asking questions, who was never satisfied with the short snippets he gave her, insisting on the full story, she had an insatiable desire to learn, that much was clear. But they'd turned him down, the man because he chose to stay and defend the Earth (_Can't argue with that_), and the girl because she place her family above her own desires (_Wish I could be as selfless as that_).

And then it hit him. He was an idiot! A glorious, marvellous, brilliant, fantastic genius but an idiot nonetheless! He'd left out the best and most important bit! And so he set about it, flooring the helmic regulator, hammering – quite literally – the temporal anomaliser, and raking the dimensional stabiliser.

Once more the TARDIS appeared in that dirty alley just outside of the Powell Estate, Kaullus still leaning against the bin, smirk in place, Rose and Mickey spinning around at the sound of the TARDIS's engines. The Doctor popped his head out, and glared at Kaullus. "You are an evil bastard."

"Yeah," Kaullus nodded with a little shrug, "I know."

Rolling his eyes at him, the Doctor turned his attention to Rose, "By the way," he said, grinning brilliantly "did I mention, it also travels in time?" Guessing the response, he backed up into the TARDIS, and waited.

Standing there with that new bit, Rose stared over at Kaullus who just grinned back at her and nodded over at the TARDIS. "He's right," she nodded, "you are evil." Then she turned to Mickey with a little half smile. "Thanks."

He just stared back at her dumbly, "Thanks for what?"

She just nodded, "Exactly." Then she planted a kiss on is cheek, gave Kaullus another look that promised revenge the next time she saw him, and dashed off towards the open doors, the broadest of smiles on her face. The TARDIS doors slammed behind her and the ship itself was off before either of the remaining onlookers knew what was happening.

Smiling brilliantly, Kaullus pushed off and went over to Mickey. "C'mon Micks, I'll buy you a pint." After today the poor lad was going to need it. But it had happened…at last it had happened. And he was there to see it! The beginning!

_The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS. _He smiled to himself as he led Mickey back towards the main street. _From here to the Pandorica…and beyond._

* * *

**A/N: **Aaaaaand cue the closing credits and the next time bit. So like I said, I'll skip over 'End of the World' because Kaullus isn't there for it. Might do the very end of it though. Tell me what you think. My main focus right now though is going to be getting 'The Unquiet Dead' up, with a more flirty Kaullus, a lot of ghosts, and the Doctor getting railed at by our favourite blood-red head.  
Opinions on Kaullus taking centre stage are welcome. I wanna know what you think of him doing the negotiating. Is he always going to be the main guy? No. In fact next time round the Doctor does the centre bit...mainly because no one else agrees with him. 'Dalek' is going to be an interesting one because I have something planned for that. Send me a message on who should have main say in that one because Kaullus and the Doctor both have a claim to that one. What's this Terran Archive you ask? Well that'd be telling and who wants that?  
And for fans who will undoubtedly grill me for being so very mean to Mickey, he's at the very beginning! I promise to be kinder to him when he grows a backbone...so end of season two...sorry.


	7. Interlude: Chips

**A/N: **And now for something a little bit different. Because Kaullus doesn't travel with them, it makes no sense to write the episodes where he didn't show up. Still, it's a bit silly not to have at least a brief look over the episode to see how it affects the characters and how it develops them along. After all, 'End of the World' is important. So here it is, the important summary of an episode I won't be writing. Told from Rose's POV.

Not mine, never will be. God damn you BBC. Moving on.

* * *

**Interlude**

**Chips**

For her first trip, the Doctor had taken her all the way to the year five billion to see the world burn. Sobering thought there if ever there was one. He made some random comment on how the human race spent so much time worrying about dying that they never considered the possibility of living long enough to see their own world die.

And they had, the human race had outlived planet Earth. Over nine-and-a-half billion years of history, starting with the most simple cell, going up to the dinosaurs and then moderating out with the human race, and they had survived. The planet had been shifted into a 'classic' setting by its owners, having become a museum piece and now that it had to go, it had been given a royal send off by the great and the good. Or, as the Doctor put it, the rich.

At the time she couldn't understand why the Doctor had wanted to show her this. Had he been mocking her? Showing her just how insignificant her little world was in the long run? It had gotten her angry, enough to snap at how the TARDIS translated everything for her, even though if she'd thought about it there really couldn't be anything wrong with being able to understand all the different species in the room.

There had been so many of them…one that stood out was the race known literally as 'Trees.' The Doctor told her later that they were one of the races that had evolved from Earth in her future, Jabe, the one they had the most time with, was a descendent of the tropical rainforest. Another one, the Face of Boe, had been exactly what they said on the tin: a great big face in a jar. And yet when she looked at it here and there, she could've sworn it had regarded her with a degree of recognition and sadness. Maybe she'd just been imagining that though, she definitely would have remembered running into something as…unique as a giant head that sponsored planet deaths.

If it hadn't been for the TARDIS she might not have gotten about with all those different species chatting away around her. But she couldn't appreciate that when she saw her world beneath her on its last legs, and the Doctor just came chortling about as if it was a normal day. As was mentioned, it got her angry, enough to poke at him none too gently about where he was from. His evasion didn't help her any until he finally blew his top.

"_This is who I am, alright!? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"_

If she had known what she did now, she probably would've still asked, but she would have at least tried to take it a bit more slowly. Now though, she was probably lucky enough to know his species.

"_Like Shireen says. 'Don't argue with the designated driver.' Can't exactly phone for a taxi."_

And then he'd gone and taken her phone apart, using what he liked to call 'Jiggery Pokery' which he apparently had a first degree in – and she couldn't be sure if he was joking or not, alien and all – sticking a new piece in where her battery used to be and handed it back to her. She'd suddenly had a connection, and she'd immediately phoned home to prove to herself that it wasn't some cheap prank. Her mum had answered the phone, going on about her red shirt falling to pieces – she'd been saying that for months every time she stuck it in the wash – and nicking a quid off her to put in the lottery.

It had just been a normal Wednesday, _"all day. 'Ave you got a hangover?" _A normal Wednesday five billion years ago with her mother who, by her point in time, was dead.

"_Five billion years…and my mum's dead."_

"_Bundle of laughs, you are."_

That was when the real trouble started. Someone had been mucking around with the systems, enough so that the observation deck they were on was now more like a time bomb, and the Earth's end would be the explosion. Once again the Doctor was off to save the day, and Rose ended up getting called a prostitute. That had been enough for her and she'd given the Doctor carte blanche to do what he liked with Jabe.

That got her into a short talk with the so-called last human, Cassandra dot delta whatever, in which she was insulted again within five minutes. But she gave back as strongly as she got, it was one thing to be insulted by a talking tree, but something else when it came from a bitchy trampoline. If that was what passed for human in the year five billion then Rose was more than happy to see her race go extinct.

"_You're not human. You've had it all nipped and tucked and flattened away. Anything human got chucked in the bin. You're just skin, Cassandra, lipstick and skin."_

_More power to the 'mongrels' I say._

On reflection, that was what got her into her next mess. One of the guests, the Adherents to the Repeated Meme, had bopped her around the head when she went off to find the Doctor. When she woke up she was on the wrong side of an observation platform, with the sun filter descending. Once again it was up to the Doctor to get her out of it, though the system fought back…or he was mucking about. He'd gotten it at last but she'd been stuck in there until maintenance got her out at the end of it all.

It had been Cassandra, the last 'pure' human, behind it all for oldest reason in the book: Money. She killed off all the other guests, planting the blame on the face of Boe, and would get a triplication out of the shares she had with all the guests rival companies.

The sun had nearly done them in. And wasn't that something? She was looking up at the sun now, warm and inviting, and in five billion years it would nearly kill her.

The Doctor stopped it though, managing to get Platform One's shields up, but not before several people were killed: The Mox of Balhoon – who'd spit at her as a gesture of peace, Mrs Pacoon - her husband had been grieving over her smoking remains when she walked back into the main observation deck, one of the Hop Pyleen Brothers, an ambassador to the City of Binding Light, several of the little blue staff members, one of which she remembered talking to – Raffalo – and Jabe, who'd given her life to give the Doctor a chance at saving everyone else.

So many people dead – and they were people despite what Cassandra might say – and it had made him angry, properly angry. Not like when he blew his top and shouted, but calm and cool, reminding her of a storm waiting to break out and engulf all those foolish and unfortunate to stand in his way.

"_You okay?"_

"_Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm _bristling _with them. Idea number one, teleport through five thousand degrees need some sort of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be close by….Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, a teleportation feed can be reversed."_

He'd brought her right back, right when she was in the middle of gloating over the look of their _'alien faces.'_ The stunned look on her…her, when she was brought right back into the middle of a room full of angry mourning guests, had been priceless. They'd all been far from laughing though, because they were the angry mourning guests, none so further from than the Doctor. And when Cassandra began to dry out, he just stood there looking on, judge, jury, and executioner. Rose still didn't know what pushed her to tell him to stop but she'd done it nonetheless. And he had refused.

"_Everything has its time and everything dies."_

And nothing could be further from the truth later on when she stood there, in front of the giant glass window, tears in her eyes, staring at what had once been her home planet. Dead and gone…and no one saw it go.

"_We were so busy saving ourselves, no one saw it go…all those years, all that history and no one was even watching…it's just…"_

Then he'd taken her hand and brought her here. London, the middle of the town, people going about their daily lives. In the distance she could hear the guy with the big issue magazines, and somewhere else she could hear a child crying. That was what the Doctor showed her then: Life. People going day after day, not one of them looking up, or even noticing her as she just stood there in the throng of the herd bustling by. Part of her wanted to pity them for not knowing what she did, for not experiencing time travel and aliens and spaceships and things. But another part…the bigger part, couldn't help but feel grateful to just see them there, on Earth, living mundane lives, boring nine-to-five lives on _Earth. _A living world full of birds and cars and concrete. And she had to live with the terrifying knowledge that one day, it would all end.

"_You think it'll last forever…but it won't. One day it's all gone…even the sky."_

That was when she thought she knew everything, when she thought she now understood why the Doctor had shown her what he had. Why he put things so sharply into perspective. And then he dropped the bomb.

"_My planet's gone…it's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust…before its time."_

"_What happened?"_

"_There was a war…and we lost…"_

There he'd looked incredibly old, more so though than his forty-something face should look…was he even that age? For all she knew he could be hundreds of years old, considering the name of his species.

"_I'm a Time Lord…I'm the last of the Time Lords…they're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own 'cos there's no one else left."_

In that moment, those words had taught her more about the man who was popping three chips at a time into his mouth from the newspaper wrapping than anything else in the past couple of days. Nothing that Clive had shown her had been right, save for his speculations about him being an alien…but he wasn't a herald of disaster, nor a harbinger of death. What he was…was lonely. And he would always be lonely no matter what did. She remembered all those different species she'd seen on Platform One and wondered how many more of them must be out there…there had to be millions of them. But the Doctor was the only one of his kind left. He would always walk into a room by himself, no Mrs Doctor, no little Doctors playing with wires in the TARDIS…just him.

Always him.

_To be in a room full of people…and still feel completely alone. _Rose couldn't begin to understand that kind of loneliness. And she wasn't sure she wanted to.

"_You've seen how dangerous it is. D'you wanna go home?"_

He'd given her an out. An option to leave. The loneliest man in the universe was giving her a choice to stay or to go, even though it meant being on his own again. She didn't know how to answer to that…and so she'd deflected.

"_Can you smell chips?"_

"_Yeah…yeah!"_

"_I want chips."_

"_Me too!"_

"_Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is."_

Because, if she was honest with herself – truly deeply, dangerously honest – she had a feeling he'd had her from the moment he'd grabbed her from swinging around on that chain…or maybe when she first saw the inside of the TARDIS…or rather when he took her hand and she felt the turn of the Earth…or maybe…just maybe…he'd had her from the second he took her hand in the basement in Henriks and told her to run. All those things out there and he had to see it all by himself?

Well she had one thing to say to that: "There's me."

* * *

**A/N: **So...how 'bout it? This any good? Cos if it is, tell me. I'll probably be doing this for all the episodes that aren't set on Earth or in a time period that's before Kaullus' meeting with them. For this story then, that's 'The Long Game' and 'Bad Wolf,' though I doubt I'll do one for that last one because Kaullus features in 'Parting of the Ways' in a big way. No he won't replace Rose as the Bad Wolf, that one's all hers. I might do an interlude post-'Father's Day' from the Doctor's POV, tell me whether I should or not. 'Long Game' is a definite if people like this interlude thing so tell me now if you like this or not. I personally would like to keep it, but the audience has a voice as well, so tell me if the interludes should stay.  
I've put up a Poll as to whether the interludes continue or not on my page. Please vote, I want to know what you think.  
Next up, 'The Unquiet Dead' from the Doctor and Rose's alternating POV. I want to do it like that because it helps me get into their minds a bit and write them more realistically. Kaullus' POV will return in 'Aliens in London,' with the Doctor and Rose becoming more predominant in 'World War Three.'  
See you then! Gotta get the next chappie up an going! Oh and if anyone wants to beta this, please please please tell me! Bye now!


	8. Christmas

**A/N: **Hi guys! I'm back! Sorry, took a little break. Wanted to take a breather after getting the first story down. I'm having fun with this! So when we last left our mad man with a box, his lovely companion and the red bloodhead: Plastic was taking over the world, but with a bit of yelling, luck and some childhood gymnastics the world was saved! Whoo! Rose has run off with the Doctor…no not like that! Kaullus took Mickey down to the pub to help him drink his sorrows away. Rose went to the end of the Earth and was nearly killed by the Sun! Ooh! Bitchy trampolines and a jaunt back to 2005, Rose learns the Doctor's on his own. They have chips – no that is not a euphemism, mind out of the gutter! – and I put up a poll on my account. VOTE NOW! VOTE NOW! VOTE NOW! And now, we return to the action in 'The Unquiet Dead!'

Don't own Doctor Who, will never own Doctor Who, still hiring assassins for the job. BBC has it all. But one day I shall ascend and assume my rightful place as owner of the Doctor Who franchise! (insert maniacal laugh here) Anyway back to business.

Roll that awesome opening track, Murray!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Christmas**

Rose recalled, a couple of days ago whilst in the TARDIS, that Kaullus had told her that travelling in it with the Doctor at the proverbial wheel could be…rough. He had been understating, the whole thing was chaos! It wasn't like last time when the TARDIS had just smoothly taken them a hundred years ahead, then ten thousand, and then five _billion _years forward into the future. Not even the slightest jolt. Now though…

"Hold that one down!" The Doctor shouted over to her, as he pulled levers and pressed switches on the other side of the console.

"I'm holding _this _one down!" She called back, exasperated. He'd told her to hold this one, and then _that _one down, which deprived her of her arms. Not to mention the third one was well out of her reach.

It seemed, however, that the Doctor had forgotten that she was only human and therefore had only _two _hands, as he just retorted, "Well hold 'em _both _down!"

Rolling her eyes at him, quickly catching her feet as the TARDIS lurched about, she lifted her leg up and used that to hold down the third lever he'd indicated. Though she swore if he told her to hold one more lever down she'd be giving him a slap her mother would be proud of! "It's never gonna work!" She told him plainly, holding her stomach in one place as the whole room threw itself around again, and she felt the nausea some kids got after being on an exceptionally jaunty rollercoaster building up at the back of her throat.

For the Doctor's part, he just wore a face of indignity which, in her eyes, made him absolutely ridiculous. "Oi!" He probably would've looked more impressive if his hands didn't have to stay in place on the console so he could jab a finger at her. "I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting!"

_Clearly a tall order! _She thought in response, swallowing her chips back down as they fought to get out again. The TARDIS looked like it was barely holding together as the Doctor took hold of what looked suspiciously like a bicycle pump and started pumping in and out. She'd seen Kaullus use it as well, but then when he did it, the whole room didn't decide to dance a samba with the rest of them inside for the ride! Did the Doctor even know how to fly this thing, or did he just nick it from his people in a bout of spur of the moment madness?

Whether he knew how to fly it or not, the Doctor was still going on like he knew exactly what he was doing. "Right then," he said, casually as you like, even as he grabbed a mallet and hit parts of the console repeatedly, "you've seen the future, now let's have a look at the past! 1860. How does 1860 sound?"

"What happened in 1860?" She asked, trying to crane over to see what he was doing. Not exactly easy when she had three limbs that needed to stay stationary, but she wasn't bronze for nothing.

But the Doctor just shrugged, grinning his enigmatic grin that just spelled trouble. "I dunno!" He replied gleefully, hammering another part of the console. "Let's go find out! Hold on!" He grabbed hold of another lever and threw it down. Whatever that did caused the already rocky tremors to become truly unstable collisions with whatever it was the TARDIS flew through to travel time and space. None of this even seemed to register with the Doctor as he then moved over to the scanner that was riddled with those strange big-and-little circles all over them which Rose had to guess was the language of his people. Whatever it was he saw made him grin even wider and he push another switch and flicked another lever up. "Here we go!" He shouted out joyfully.

Throughout the crazy mess that was the Doctor's driving, Rose found herself holding on ever tighter to the console, using all three of her limbs to keep her steady, often hopping on her remaining leg as the TARDIS jumped around. After a while she found a certain rhythm to it and was able to time her hops to the ship's jerks, even started to enjoy it a bit.

"Here we go!" The Doctor suddenly appeared right beside her, grabbing a final lever and hitting the console one more time. "Landing in three…two…one…!" And then there was an almighty thud that threw them both back onto the grating.

If she was honest with herself, Rose should've found the floor quite uncomfortable to lie on. However at the moment she was too busy laughing her arse off. It didn't matter if it hadn't worked, that had been a surprising amount of fun…save for the weird positioning, and the flailing around, and maybe next time she could do without the grating beneath her. All the rest though? That had been brilliant! Forget rollercoasters, this was the ride for her! "Blimey!" She exclaimed, finding no other word to fit the description of the moment.

"You're telling me!" The Doctor agreed, lying beside her and laughing the ride away along with her. "You alright?" He asked as he jumped back to his feet, walking around the steaming controls to the scanner.

She quickly patted herself down, "Yeah I think so," she said after a second, "nothing broken anyway…did we make it? Where are we?"

"I did it!" Even the Doctor sounded a bit surprised at his success, though he quickly covered it up with smug pride, "Give the man a medal!" He pointed at the rings and hexagons on the screen that made absolutely no sense to her, "Earth" he elaborated, "Naples, December twenty-fourth, 1860." He folded his arms and puffed his chest out in that universal male sign of congratulating himself on a job well done.

_He thinks he's so impressive._ She thought to herself wryly, remembering his response to that the last time she said that. Then she cottoned onto exactly _when _he'd said they'd landed…December… "That's so weird," Rose murmured, "it's Christmas!" She'd celebrated her eighteenth a couple of weeks back in a pub with Mickey and Shireen, and now here she was in Italy in 1860…and it was Christmas!

Guessing right on what she wanted to get to seeing, the Doctor gestured towards the doors, "All yours." He granted.

But for the moment she was frozen on the spot, still trying to wrap her head around the concept of…Naples in Christmas. "But it's like…think about it though. Christmas. 1860." Off the Doctor's slightly lessening smile, Rose continued, "It happens once, just once, and then it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again." And here her focus turned solely onto the Doctor, staring at him intently. "'Cept for you. You can go back and see days that're dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago…" The Doctor's smile had returned in force, a full on grin, and Rose could only respond with one of her own, realising exactly the prospects of his life, "no wonder you never stay still."

"Not a bad life." He remarked, arms still folded proudly.

She considered that for a moment before replying, a tad cheekily, "Better with two." She might have ran her tongue along her teeth as they grinned at each other there. "C'mon then!" She slapped him on the arm and darted straight down towards the doors.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" The Doctor's voice called her back, "Where d'you think you're going?"

"1860!" She said right back, gesturing at the doors that were begging her to open them and step through.

However the Doctor was adamant, "Go out there, dressed like _that,_" he indicated her faded hoodie, grey shirt and baggy jeans, "you'll start a riot, Barbarella!"

Frankly clothes hadn't been high on Rose's priority list when she ran, head first into this wild jaunt around time and space with the Doctor. She'd still been half on the high of surviving the Nestene Consciousness to think too much about that. _I'll have to go back home to grab a few things after this one._ But that still left out the fact that she had nothing appropriate to wear for 1860. But there was no way in hell she was going to let him take off again before she saw Naples in 1860 at Christmas time.

Fortunately, the Doctor alleviated her unspoken fear pointing off somewhere down the corridor that led out of the console room and along to a set of other rooms including the kitchen and the room he'd let her have for now. "There's a wardrobe through there," he explained, "First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on the left." He finished and then frowned when he realised that she hadn't got going already. "Go on then, hurry up!"

She nodded briefly, entirely thankful for that life-saver of a room, and ran out of the console room missing the grin he sent her way as she passed him.

It only took her a few aimless wanders around before she utterly forgot the Doctor's directions – and wasn't that weird, the Doctor giving _directions – _and just started looking in room after room, she'd find it eventually. Just how far did this thing go anyway?

* * *

_Right, that's her gotten rid of_. Having a few minutes to himself, the Doctor made his own changes to his attire. Didn't want to stick out too much after all. Taking another corridor, he reached out to his connection to the TARDIS, requesting she bring his room closer to him. He smiled widely when the next door he opened indeed turned out to be his very private study, set with a plush sofa that wouldn't have gone amiss in a Jane Austen flick sat in front of a roaring – and forever alight, ever-lasting wood after all – fire in an antique hearth. On either side of the study was a set of shelves, all of them crammed with his personal favourites - Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Will Shakespeare, Franz Ferdinand, J.R.R. Tolkien, G.R.R Martin, as well as others – with the odd thingamajig that he'd picked up here and there strewn on top of them. His desk, compared to the rest of the room, was just your simple table, few legs and a top bit, though it had an old fob watch placed on top of it, the sight of which causing the Doctor's smile to lessen a bit.

It didn't matter that it was a different watch, the old one having been destroyed years ago, the mere shape was enough to bring back old memories of a life that started well in California only to end in fire and anger and hate. So much hate.

Tearing his eyes away from the circuit closer for the Chameleon Arch, the Doctor went through another door to his room, tossing his leather jacket onto a pile of strewn clothes that included a long beige coat with red lining along the collar – the celery still as fresh as ever though (_That was a good life, never quite managed to pull that look off again_), and a fur coat that he'd never grown into. He added to the pile by chucking his old jumper on top and pulling out a new burgundy jumper which he hastily threw on and then added a new leather jacket. Some lives ago he might have cared how he dressed. After the Time War though, what right did he have to look eccentric and impressive?

And yet he was bringing Rose along, another companion, after everything he'd done. He'd taken her to the end of her world, shown her the harsh reality of the universe, and yet here she was still in his TARDIS rummaging around in his wardrobe for some gaudy thing that was bound to set the natives on edge. What the hell was he doing bringing her along into the chaotic aftermath of the Time War that he himself was responsible for?

Suddenly the Doctor frowned. _This is getting introspective._ He thought to himself, and that immediately shut down the doors to his past. He didn't do his past, he did _the _past, the one that mattered and hadn't been screwed up yet by his mercy. Shaking the morbid thoughts off then, he exited his room and his study and headed back to the console room.

Rose still wasn't back yet so he busied himself with some maintenance – poor Old Girl needed a complete do-over if he was completely honest. Ducking into the grating he got right into it, sonic screwdriver reaching the more difficult parts. _Zeiton crystals're a bit off, gonna have to head over to the Rift for a refuel in a few months. _The sonic suddenly shorted out, causing him to frown and lean back up, pressing it a couple of times. _What's wrong with you then? Can't have you going all wonky too y'know. _A resentful scowl suddenly adorned his features as another thought flitted in. _Bet that Tahkaullus' screwdriver doesn't conk out when he needs it to work._

And there was something to think about…

However he was thoroughly distracted from that trail of thought when his ears caught the sound of heeled shoes tapping on the grating. Sighing mentally, he prepared himself for whatever look the girl off the estate had gotten on and glanced up…and then looked up…and then up some more.

Somewhere in the universe there is a stone monument entirely dedicated to the number of times the man known as the Doctor has been struck speechless. Rarely is it ever updated.

Today however was one of those incredibly rare days as the Doctor stared up past the velvet heeled boots, open to reveal the black, flora-embroidered stockings; past the pink Vivien Fishtail skirt that had only the first five loops at the side done up, leaving the rest to flow elegantly behind her; past the black _strapless_ Fleurinda dress (_where the hell did she find that?!)_ and over the black velvet travelling cape that covered up her arms. On top of her head, Rose's hair was bundled up and held in place by a hairclip that had a large pink-dyed feather adorned upon it, the result of which revealed virtually the entirety of her neck, only to be broken by the shawl that made up her neckline. Safe to say, the Doctor was stunted for a moment. She'd even taken the time to remove those big loops in her ears for something a bit more stylish. Granted the chandelier earrings she was sporting now still dangled but at least there was no chance of her ripping her earlobes out with those.

At last he got his mouth working again, but all he managed was a faint "Blimey."

She blushed a bit at his intense stare, immediately trying to cover up her embarrassment by pointing a stern finger at him. "Don't laugh!" She warned him, though the attempt was lost a bit as she descended into a brief stint of giggles.

The Doctor's next words though silenced her. "You look beautiful." He remarked, still a wave of stunned awe in his tone. For a moment both stopped moving, Rose's smile becoming a bit awkward and the Doctor, realising what he'd just said, freezing up entirely. He quickly took command again and ducked back under the grating, fiddling with his screwdriver again. "Considering," he continued, offhand.

Her own shyness dropped away, replaced with what he was coming to recognise as her normal attitude: inquisitive, with a backing of attitude. "Considering what?" He could just make out the little threat in that tone.

"That you're human." He replied again, though he made sure not to look up completely, just glance.

It was a tribute to how quickly she'd already gotten used to his derogatory remarks about her species that Rose was able to reply and only be amused. "I _think _that was a compliment." Then her tactics changed to attack his apparel. "Aren't you gonna change then?"

"I've changed my jumper!" The Doctor replied defensively, tugging the piece of clothing in question. Honestly, humans; they thought everyone stood out in a crowd just by a little costume shift. Besides, the bad boy leather look was a timeless piece. If it ain't broke don't fix it. _Although as far as fixer uppers go. _He snuck another look at Rose before pulling himself out. "Come on!"

But she waved him off, dashing ahead of him. "You stay right there!" She told him gleefully, "You've done this all before. This is mine!"

Again the Doctor grinned after her as he pulled himself out entirely and pulled the grating back into place on the platform. That done he pocketed the sonic screwdriver, the mysterious problem of Tahkaullus forgotten for the moment, and joined Rose at the door. She was staring out at where they'd landed, that wonderful look of disbelief and excitement dancing away in her eyes as she took in the snow, the street, even the smell. The enjoyment only grew as he watched Rose place her foot in the snow, tentatively staring down at it and then looking at the footprint left behind.

_A small step for me, _he thought to himself,_ one giant leap for Rose Tyler._ Somewhere out there he could make out the chime of carol singers doing their bit to add to the Christmas cheer. Ooh! Maybe he could grab an old copy of Dickens' _All the Year Round!_ The first instalment of _Great Expectations _was published in it at the start of the month, someone had to have a back copy that they didn't want out behind Rose, the Doctor turned back and locked the TARDIS door before returning his attention to his new companion who was still taking it all in. "You ready for all this?"

She responded by beaming at him. Answer given, he offered her his arm, one hundred million watt grin in place when she took it. "Here we go then. History!" And with a gentle pull he led her out of the alley and into the world of 1860 in Naples…and it was Naples, he was sure of it. Though there was a certain lack of that common sea breeze…and he could usually smell Vesuvius from where they were supposed to have landed. Still, it was 1860…or near enough.

_Hmm…maybe I should find a newspaper._

* * *

**A/N:** I wanted to do a bit of research regarding 1869 so I could drop in a few things throughout the story as well as getting a more accurate description of Rose's dress.  
Anyway, here it is. No Kaullus yet, wanted to give them a little time to themselves. Started Rose but jumped over to the Doctor a third of the way through, get used to that by the way, jumping POV during chapters. The first five chapters were unique because Kaullus needed introducing. Now that that's done, anything goes.  
If anyone's played them, you know the Doctor's study is based heavily on the one seen in The Adventure Games. It struck me how Eighth Doctor it was so I thought 'Why not? He's just come out of the war, a few things haven't been redone yet.'  
Also, stick of celery, you can guess which Doctor that is. Can anyone guess which Doctor I got the fur coat off of? Also to the classic Who fans, remember the ever-lasting matches? Why wouldn't he go get a ton of that wood for his hearth?  
Right, the poll is still up regarding the interludes. Please vote on whether they should exist, new readers read the interlude again and remember: This is what you can expect from future interludes.


	9. Charley

**A/N: **And so we continue onwards with 'the Unquiet Dead.' Tahkaullus makes his return, the Doctor realises his mistake, Rose gets kidnapped, and Charles Dickens is fawned over. Get stuck in, get reading. DO SO NOW OR SUFFER MY WRATH!

I don't own Doctor Who, Steven Moffat does, though I have a few ideas for stories. But first I must take over the BBC. Then…it shall begin.

Tahkaullus is mine, try to take him and I will use deadly force involving a kettle, a piece of string, and maybe a vegetable.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Charley**

Wide eyes quickly became Rose's standard as she took it all in for the hundredth time. One place she'd always heard her mother go on was trips to Italy and how they were never cheap. Well of course her mother had never had a space ship that could travel through time. And now here she was, it didn't matter how many times she looked at it, she couldn't get used to it: Different ground beneath her feet, different weather – different _climate – _than from an hour ago, different fashion. Different was in. And she was loving every single second of it as she let the Doctor lead her through the streets of nineteenth century Naples.

_Oh I wish I had my camera! Mum'd never believe it! _She giggled a bit to herself as they passed a group of carollers singing for their supper, hearing it all in English thanks to the TARDIS telepathic field. A bit of a cheat but then she'd never been any good learning foreign languages, German had been hard enough and French had gone completely over her head, and that was before she got to GCSEs. It didn't really matter now though, here she was strolling through Naples enjoying Christmas with an impossible man who refused to change his outfit and yet not a single person had made a remark. No riots to be spoken of.

The Doctor seemed to know where to go and so she just went along with it, gazing maybe a bit too much at the horse-drawn carriages and the top hats and the dresses. They didn't look her way once, probably writing her off as a foreigner – which she sort of _was_ – who was being shown the sights by her somewhat older escort.

Seemed the Doctor wanted to catch up on his history a bit, as he bought a paper off a lad in rags after a few minutes walking and scanned the page. Immediately his face contorted into a sheepish frown.

_Ha! _Rose couldn't help thinking, _I knew it! I knew he wasn't gonna land us right! _Still though, he must've gotten them pretty close. It was Christmas, with carollers and everything just like back home, and she didn't know what Italy in the Victorian years looked like but she'd be heavy to bet on what she saw around her. So maybe not so bad a landing.

A nervous sucking of his teeth preceded the Doctor's admittance. "I got the flight a bit wrong." He told her, ducking his head a little.

But she just shook her head. "I don't care."

"It's not 1860, it's 1869."

"I don't care." So a few years out, they still had the right clothes on. Well, _she _did anyway.

"And it's not Naples."

"I don't care." She put it a bit more forcefully this time, he promised a time machine and delivered. Did he expect everyone to throw him on the coals? Well, considering the trouble they'd gotten into maybe that assumption wasn't entirely off.

Now the Doctor looked incredibly nervous, a bit like the way some of the boys she remembered going to school with when they'd forgotten to do their homework. "It's Cardiff." He blurted out, stumbling a bit ahead of her whilst she came to a grinding halt.

_Cardiff?! All of time and space, pick of the world and he brought me to bleedin' Cardiff?! _What the hell was there to do here? The city wasn't exactly a hotspot in her time and if she knew anything about Britain, it wouldn't be one a hundred years in the past either.

"Right." Shaking it off, she caught up quickly with the Doctor who was muttering obscenities to himself.

"Must be the ruddy Helmic Regulator again," He was ranting, "damn thing's been on the blink for donkeys years now. That randomiser's gotta be responsible."

Rose didn't have a clue what a Helmic Regulator was, but it sounded to her what Mickey classified as 'race car drivers' excuses.' When they didn't perform right, they blamed everyone and everything else except themselves, including the car. _Can't admit that he can't fly his own ship. Typical bloke. _Was that what he'd been doing when she came in then? Fixing his proverbial motor? Well maybe he should've done it before they landed in Cardiff where there was nothing to see or do!

"Rose?" Again she froze in her tracks, and this time the Doctor with her, this time not out of astonished disappointment, but rather sheer perplexity. Because there was no way that the owner of that baritone south London accent could be alive right now.

Turning around and facing the source though proved otherwise; there, in a crimson red military style vest and black work trousers, over which he wore a black frock coat that reached to the start of his black leather work boots, and holding a black cane with a simple round top in a leather gauntleted hand, stood Tahkaullus Neuvo not three feet away from them, staring at Rose in utter surprise. That surprise suddenly vanished as he took the three strides necessary to close the distance and engulf her in an impromptu hug right in there in the street.

"By all Auren's nerves! What're you doing here?!" He asked in delight laughing a bit as he pulled back from her a bit, ecstatic smile still in place. "On second thought, never mind. Less talking, more hugging" And he went right back to it.

For Rose's part she had been caught completely off guard and so almost screamed when she suddenly found herself engulfed in the arms of a practical stranger. "Er, yeah mate…" She replied a bit uncertainly, trying to get a look over at the Doctor, wondering why he wasn't intervening. "Uhm do you mind if we tone down on the hugs?"

"Why?" He looked and sounded genuinely confused as he pulled back to look at her, frowning a bit when she immediately backed away from him. "You've never been so skittish before. Is there something wro-?" He trailed off mid-word as something caught his attention. For a while he just stared at her, whatever it was causing his frown to lessen a bit to something a little more…sad.

"Oh." He said at last. "It's early days yet, isn't it?"

She didn't know what he meant by that and so remained quiet as he continued to just look at her. Finally he straightened up, putting on a thin smile and looked over her shoulder. "Well alright then, where's the big man eh? Is he sticking his nose where he shouldn't again?"

By the big man, Rose assumed he had to mean the Doctor and frowned a little when she saw him look right past him for something. However before she could voice that point, the man in question stepped forward, penetrating blue eyes locking onto Tahkaullus. "What're you doing here?" He asked sharply, making the question sound more like a demand.

But now it was Tahkaullus' turn to stare at the Doctor in confusion, as if he didn't quite understand the question. He looked at the Doctor, and the Doctor looked right on back. It didn't occur to anyone that they had stopped in the middle of the street and people were starting to glance their way.

"Doctor?" Tahkaullus asked slowly, looking him up and down, as if not quite believing what his eyes were telling him.

_But why? _Rose wanted to know, _And more to the point, the Doctor's right. What _is _he doing here?_ Maybe his accusation of Tahkaullus being some creepy stalker had weight after all.

"Is that you?" He went on to say, still looking the man over. At last he stepped away from Rose and moved to stand directly in front of the Doctor, invading his personal space. "What happened?"

Again the Doctor frowned in confusion. "Eh?"

"These things!" Tahkaullus pointed out, indicating his ears, going so far as to reach out and tug at them. "Auren's tits, they're real! Bloody hell man, they're huge! You could bounce alien transmissions off of these things! And is bald in fashion now?" He slapped the Doctor's closely cropped head, and then looked at his palm, "Not a single split end to be spoken of. Do you just grow your hair out later to make up for this? Blimey I think that gave me a cut!"

"What're you yammering on about now?!" The Doctor finally burst, and Rose had to silently agree to the question. The bloke had made little sense at his best last time.

"This!" Tahkaullus accentuated by waving his cane in front of the Doctor, "The frowny-face, the leather, the ears that look like they could have their own orbit! Ooh! I could call you 'Satellite Ears!'" He backed up, cocking his head to the side, repeating the name a few times as if testing it out. "Yeah, Satellite Ears. Yep," he prodded the Doctor on the chest with the cane, "that's what I'm calling you from now on when you get start getting rude. Has he gotten rude yet?" He asked Rose, his head jumping from one person to the other, so fast that she was startled when she realised he was looking at her. "That's his staple after all. 'Rude and _Still _not Ginger.'"

"Oi!" Whatever he was going on about, he'd finally touched on something the Doctor knew about. Though he didn't sound all that happy to hear it. "How d'you know about that?"

"Oh…" Tahkaullus smirked at them both, free hand stuffed into his pocket, like he'd done before when he had something to hide, and the other just leaning on the cane "now that would be telling." Then he pulled out a gold pocket watch and looked at the time. "Anyway, must dash. There's a show on tonight that I simply cannot afford to miss." And just like that he swept past them, calling back over his shoulder "Please don't try to blow anything up while you're here! You know how much that annoys the locals."

For a moment the Doctor just stood there, open mouthed in disbelief. It was such an odd look on him that, for the moment, Rose forgot about the weirdness of the situation and blurted out a giggle. When he looked at her in disbelief she shrugged a bit. "Well, you blew my job up. Then you went about pulling Platform One's ventilation apart. Face it, mate," she pointed at Tahkaullus' back, "he's got your number."

"Yeah, but how?" The Doctor too was following the retreating form of the ridiculously red-haired man, though his look wasn't so casual and a lot more frustrated. And she couldn't be sure, but Rose could've sworn she detected a hint of intrigue in there as well. Shrugging, the Doctor set off after him, "Come on then."

Surprised at how quickly he'd moved, Rose nearly had to run to keep up with his longer strides. She'd never been that conscious of her height, at five foot four a lot of her friends were taller than her, but right now she wouldn't mind her legs being a bit longer to keep up with the Doctor's own, especially when he was in mission mode.

They were alongside Tahkaullus again in no time though, seeing as he was just strolling along, the Doctor coming up on his left and Rose on his right, boxing him in. His little smirk was still in place when they did and he glanced at them both. "Well that was faster than expected." He admitted, and though right now his attention was on the Doctor, Rose could imagine the mocking smile he had in place.

The Doctor was less than amused, "Enough beatin' around the bush." He ordered sharply, "Who are you, and how do you know abou-?"

"So you two are in Cardiff of all places." Kaullus interrupted, turning his attention back to Rose, looking her over and nodding appreciatively, "And once again, my dear lady, dressed to impress. I'd tip my hat to you if I was wearing one." And despite the weirdness, Rose felt herself blush a little. She wasn't used to compliments like that. Oh Mickey told her every chance he could and her mum wouldn't let her hear the end of it. But that now made two people she could honestly say she barely knew to tell her she looked attractive, even if the Doctor had blustered his one off. It made her feel empowered, knowing that she could turn heads, something she hadn't honestly felt about herself since she was sixteen...

"No more diversions!" The Doctor's crisp voice, rising a bit, brought her back to Earth, remembering that this man knew them way to well. "Now tell me, what're you doin' here at the exact same time we showed up?!"

"Well let's see," Tahkaullus prodded his chin thoughtfully for a second, "ooh how to describe the basics of normal travel in the real world versus the temporal velocitation of a stolen Type 40 pan dimensional capsule that transcends the normal laws of dimensionality and is slightly psychic to boot." His long pointy ears (something Rose only now just realised she hadn't noticed before) suddenly pricked up in sequence with him clicking his fingers. "I know!" Turning to the Doctor, in as serious a voice as Rose had ever heard – this including that stint with the Nestene Consciousness, he answered "I took the train."

For a moment it looked like the Doctor might have fallen for that, his mouth opening in that classic way that preceded 'Ah yes, of course! That makes sense!' But, probably due to his alien status, he caught on and his frown, if possible, deepened. "What?"

"Well," Tahkaullus relented "strictly speaking, I've been in America most of the year. Ghastly place. Good on **Miss Anthony** though, shame about her and Douglass but I guess everyone has their own agenda." He shrugged, though he had to know Rose didn't have a clue what he was on about. Still he continued on, "Got outta there in **September** after a bit of a misunderstanding. Oh!" His loud exclamation caused her to jump as he addressed the Doctor properly, "**Mendeleev** called in March. He was hoping you'd go with him to present his table to the RCS."

"What?"

"Yeah, told him you couldn't make it. You'd be proud of him though, I think he's gonna go far." He shrugged and then returned to his previous topic. "So yeah, got out of America in September, came back to Blighty. Might've accidently convinced** a group of kids **to attend Uni. Oh and Alfie finished his **Arthur** project, though he wanted to get your opinion on a few things." Here he popped his neck a little, cane lifted and tucked under his arm pit, before continuing. "Got a bit bored, heard my favourite author was coming down here for a show. I figured 'why not?'"

"And you just happen to run into me while you're at it?" The Doctor pressed.

His questions though had the opposite effect that he'd probably been hoping for, as Tahkaullus just blanked him and turned to Rose, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Good grief, his head's swollen! Dunno how you manage."

"Still workin' on it myself." She replied tentatively. She barely knew him but, out of the many aliens who she'd run into over the last few days, he ranked as one of the few who would actually go out of his way to help out. Was it really too much to give him a bit of leeway?

_When you don't know what the hell he could do with the information, yes! _The rational voice in her mind that inspired caution warned her. Then again, that voice had also told her not to go digging for more on the Doctor and look where she was now. If she'd listened to it then she might have missed out on this trip, Cardiff or not, and the world might have ended as well so there was that too. But still, this chap had just run into them again, hugged her like they were old friends, and then rattled off a line of things that must've happened in the year just to annoy the Doctor. _Who the hell is he?_

He didn't push the topic though, her answer seeming to have satisfied him for now, however she had a feeling he'd be coming back to it later. Instead, he focussed on her dress again, "Gotta say I wish you dressed up more often." He purred, "You wear it so well." Then he frowned, glancing down a bit, asking "You're not wearing a corset under all that are you?"

"N-no. Why?" She'd had a nasty mess with a corset one Halloween a couple of years ago, the thing had been pulled around her so tight she was sure she was going to burst. How anyone could've found them sexy at any point in time was a mystery to her – she hadn't been able to breathe!

Again though, her short answer seemed to be all he was looking for and he nodded. Looking her over again though brought a smirk to his lips and he turned to face the Doctor. "You weren't aiming for Cardiff were you?"

"And how'd you figure that?" The Doctor asked, though there was a tinge of offended pride slipping in.

"Well look at her!" Tahkaullus pointed at Rose, "Dress is of a thin material, her arms are bare, the neckline is virtually non-existent if you take off the cape and she isn't wearing a hat! No gloves either! Going by all that I'd say you were aiming for somewhere in the continent, still Christmas." He glanced at her again, "And no offense Rose, you do look beautiful – Oi!" He caught her when she looked away "No denying the truth young lady – but that look is so last decade. So going from all that, adding into the fashion tastes and materials, plus the Doctor's own wounded pride, I'd say you were headed for somewhere in Italy. Am I close?"

She probably shouldn't have carried on, seeing as this would be seen as disagreeing with the designated driver again, but Rose was feeling a bit vindictive after finding out she'd been landed in Cardiff of all places. Finding out she'd spent an hour looking for the right outfit only to be told she was out of fashion in this time, and she honestly couldn't bring up any level of defence for the Doctor.

"Naples actually." She told Tahkaullus, much to the Doctor's visible chagrin. "He was supposed to be showing me Naples at Christmas in 1860. Instead here we are in Cardiff, 1869, and my clothes are out of taste!"

"Oi," the subject of current bashing protested weakly, "I managed to get us to the right time era. That's something isn't it?"

"One out of four does not a good date make, Doctor." Tahkaullus sang cheerily, before opening his coat and sliding his cane into a holster on the inside, allowing him to swing an arm each around their shoulders and turn them back the way they'd come. "So here's an idea! I'm bored out of my socket, so how's about I give you a hand in getting Rose to her proper treat, eh?"

"I can fly the TARDIS just fine!"

"He said when his companion just proved otherwise."

"But," Rose looked over her shoulder, realising they'd been following Tahkaullus towards a theatre, "what about your show?" Sure she wanted to see Naples, but that didn't mean she wanted to inconvenience anyone else.

"Ah, I can catch it next year." He shrugged, a difficult thing seeing as he hadn't removed his arms from their shoulders and was still leading – or in the Doctor's case _pushing – _them back through the town. "Between you and me, the man isn't what he used to be anyway. A bit of an old Scroo-"

He was cut off however by a loud high-pitched wail from behind them. Breaking away from each other, they all three turned on the spot to face the theatre they'd come from, seeing a massive swath of Victorian fashion fleeing in terror out of the open doors, pushing and shoving their way down the cramped stairs. "On second thought," Tahkaullus muttered, "stick around."

The Doctor however was ecstatic, "Now _that's _more like it!" He crowed excitedly before taking Rose's hand and dashing off towards the noise.

Rose could just make out Tahkaullus muttering an annoyed 'Bloody hell' before he suddenly appeared on her left, taking her free hand and running along with them reminding her of London and how they'd ran together then. Just like then, she found herself struck by how right it felt.

* * *

Though he was slightly annoyed that Tahkaullus hadn't taken the hint and buggered off when he'd taken Rose and legged it, the Doctor was silently grateful that they had another pair of hands on base. Granted the man knew way too much about him, and he still had no idea how they could have so easily run into each other again, and he had an overactive trigger finger. But aside from all that, Tahkaullus Neuvo was a useful asset to have. He'd never tell him that though.

Still he put that aside for a moment as the two of them pushed their way through the panicked crowd of hats and petticoats, making sure not to lose Rose in the throng. Flash mobs were dangerous and humans were fragile, one trip and that could be it for her, especially with all these heels about.

Following the frantic flow back to the source, the three of them burst through the exit to the stalls, and stared in amazement at the sight before them. Swooping over the vacated chairs and rows of the audience was a huge blue shapeless mass, screaming out that hoarse chilling moan. If the Doctor was human he'd have said it was a ghost, the way it wafted around with no real direction, ducking and gliding around the room, terrifying anyone that came near them. He was getting a chill just looking at it. "Fantastic!"

"Oh yeah, sure!" Tahkaullus muttered sarcastically beside him. "My evening of relaxation ruined by a big blue something-or-other that is now squealing its lungs out! Brilliant! Molto Bene!"

"Italian? Really?"

"It's where you were aiming."

Before they could get into a proper argument, something the Doctor was sure that Tahkaullus secretly wanted – that's all the two of them ever seemed to do – their attention was caught by the one man other than themselves who wasn't running in panic. He was stood on stage, elderly but not old, in a suit and waistcoat with greying, slightly balding curly hair, a bushy moustache and lengthy beard, and was trying in vain to calm his fleeing audience. "Stay in your seats, I beg you." He called to the scurrying patrons, "It is a lantern show, it is trickery!"

_Ah humans,_ the Doctor thought to himself aside, _always looking for the logical explanation even when the answer is staring them in the face. _Granted he didn't have any answers either as he stared in wonder at the swirling mass, he'd never seen anything like it before! Absolutely fantastic! The man on stage must have seen where it all started and so that was where he ran first.

"Did you see where it came from?" He called out to him.

The elderly man however was less than courteous, looking down on him with furious eyes. "Ah." He snapped angrily at him "The wag reveals himself, and of course," he looked over the Doctor's shoulder at someone he couldn't see, "how could a Yank resist such an opportunity for tomfoolery? I trust you're satisfied sirs!"

Taken aback the Doctor jumped away a bit, nearly knocking himself into Tahkaullus behind him – the so-assumed 'Yank' he had to guess – and turned to look back up at the creature still floating around.

"Oi! Leave her alone!" The familiar London accent caught him and his attention switched to Rose who was shouting at an old man and his maid who seemed to be making off with an old woman. "Doctor, I'll get 'em!" She called out to him before dashing off after them.

"Be careful!" He called back, before jumping onto the stage to get a better look.

Tahkaullus was only a second behind him, and he was furious. "Just like that?!" He demanded angrily, his eyes following Rose as she ran out of the exits after the kidnappers. "You're just gonna let her go?!"

Surprised at the vehemence of his unexpected add on, the Doctor turned to face Tahkaullus properly. "She'll be fine. Why so worried?"

"The better question is why aren't you?!"

"Couple of kidnappers making off with a frail old lady?" He scoffed at the idea of them being troublesome. "If she couldn't handle them I wouldn't have taken her with me." He held out a hand in front of the loudmouth before he could start up again, and turned back to the elderly man who was still glaring at them. "Did it say anything?" He asked him, indicating the creature, "Could it speak. Oh, I'm the Doctor by the way."

"Doctor?" The Victorian asked, sceptically eyeing his clothing "You look more like a navvy."

"What is wrong," he demanded, grabbing at his clothing indignantly "with this jumper?"

"Do you want the list?" Tahkaullus asked beside him, still looking over the stalls at the exit worriedly.

Scoffing, the Doctor rolled his eyes at the man's paranoia. "If you're so worried, why haven't you gone out to help her?"

"Because you're hopeless on your own." He replied easily.

"Oi!"

"Well you are."

Again a potential argument was cut off when the gas creature's wail reached a crescendo before it dived out up the stalls, over the balcony of the dress circle and off towards one of the still lit gas lamps. To his astonishment, the creature's form shifted and slimmed before it was sucked entirely into the gas pipe, merging with the substance inside and vanishing from sight.

"Gas…" The Doctor whispered in delighted stupor, "it's made of gas!" A creature whose biological compilation equalled the same substances as the calorific gases created from the coking process of coal. Astounding! He'd never seen anything like it and now he had! Excitement brewing he jumped off the stage and out of the stalls, back the way he came, Tahkaullus may not have spotted it but he had. That creature hadn't just come out of nowhere, it had been streaming outwards and only just completing its exit as they had come in. But he'd been able to locate the source: The old woman that Rose had spotted being hauled away.

He couldn't see what was so worrying, she'd be fine. She'd survived her own sun and the Nestene Consciousness for goodness sake! If it were Cybermen, then he'd worry, but an old undertaker and his maid? What was Tahkaullus' problem?

Bursting out into the cold, he saw exactly what his problem was. The undertaker and the girl were hauling her up and into a hearse, and she wasn't resisting. "Rose!" _She's been drugged! _He sniffed the air. _Chlorophorm! _Angry with himself he didn't even bother to block Tahkaullus out as he started shouting at him furiously. _Stupid! Stupid! Should've listened to him. She's just a child, in my care and now she's being hauled away by cloaked stranger and his lackey! He was right…should've listened…should've listened!_

"You're not escaping me sirs!" The latest member of their excursion suddenly appeared behind them, walking cane in hand and a black great coat thrown on. "What do you know about that hobgoblin, hm?! Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it? Well? Answer me sirs!"

"SHUT UP!" Tahkaullus shouted at him, still furious. The Doctor silently thanked him, he likely would have done something similar if he'd been given half the chance. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he glanced at Tahkaullus who was pointing at an open coach. "We'll keep up better in that" was all he said before running towards it.

Nodding unnecessarily in agreement, the Doctor followed him. "Oi, you!" He shouted to the driver, even as Tahkaullus leapt into it, "Follow that hearse!" A second later and then he was in, seated opposite Tahkaullus but the coach stayed in place.

"I can't do that sir!" The driver protested.

"And why the bloody hell not!" Tahkaullus spat at him angrily, and the Doctor spied him reaching into his coat for something.

He never found out what though because the man from before, still in high temper, suddenly stuck his furious head in, distracting them both. "Why not?!" He repeated angrily at Tahkaullus, "I'll give you a very good reason why not! This is my coach!"

Just looking at Tahkaullus told the Doctor that he was about to blow his top, reminiscent of how he let loose at him in 2005 by the Thames. They didn't have time for that though so he reached out and grabbed the man by the cowl and pulled him in. "Get in then!" He ordered frantically before shouting up at the driver, "Move!" And this time the coach rumbled off. The pace however was something left to be desired, as the Doctor noted by the sound of the horse's hooves clopping along. That was barely a canter, more like a fast trot! "Come on, you're losing 'em!"

Looking back, the driver looked in at his employer, "Everything in order, Mr Dickens?"

"No!" The man replied sharply "It is not!"

At the given name though, the Doctor's thoughts on the hearse took a back seat and he looked back at the angry man sat beside him. "What did he say?" It couldn't be. He couldn't be that lucky!

"Let me say this first," Mr Dickens started again, somewhat more calm now, though that might have something to do with Tahkaullus staring at him with those angry blue eyes of his, "I'm not without a sense of humour-"

But the Doctor couldn't care less about that right now "Dickens?" He really, really needed to hear this, he couldn't have gotten that! No way could he have landed in Cardiff, at Christmas, and met him. Glancing at Tahkaullus told him just how much he thought that mattered right now but then what did he know? He was the time traveller, Tahkaullus was the stalker. He had moral superiority.

Mr Dickens, also confused as to how that could matter, nodded, "Yes."

"_Charles_ Dickens?" He pressed.

"Yes."

"_The _Charles Dickens?" Oh this was too perfect, here he was, sat in the coach of _The _Charles Dickens, after what looked like ghosts had just come screaming out of nowhere to terrify the populace. The giant of the Victorian age right up there with old Alfred! And then it hit him, swirling round he pointed an accusing finger at Tahkaullus, "This was the favourite writer of yours that you mentioned before! You were going to see his recital!"

"Does it really matter right now?!" Tahkaullus snapped back at him, sticking his head out the window like a bloody dog before rapping the top of the box, vexed. "C'mon, get those horses moving! Get up to a gallop for hell's sake! We're gonna lose her!"

"Shall I remove the gentlemen sir?" The driver asked, a bit nervously, as he glanced down at Tahkaullus.

_Tch, ignorant illiterate_ The Doctor snorted mentally at his riding partner before turning back to the other, far more interesting one. "Charles Dickens!" He gushed "You're brilliant, you are! Completely one hundred per cent brilliant! I've read 'em all! _Great Expectations, Oliver Twist _and what's the other one, oh…" he wracked his head for a second. _All this information stuffed inside me' head, I need a bigger head! _Turning to Charles – _The Charles Dickens! – _for help he supplied, "the one with the ghost?"

Rolling his eyes, the bemused Charles Dickens gave the obvious reply, "_A Christmas Carol?_"

But he wrote that right off, "No, no no! The one about trains, oh what was it?" He went back through his vast mind of collected genius, looking for the bit that mattered, the name, what was the name?!

There it was! "The Signal-Man!" He exclaimed joyously, "That's the one, terrifying!" And if he wasn't mistaken, he could see a bit of relief and a look of refreshed flattery start to touch at Charles Dickens' demeanour. "The best short-story ever written! You are a _genius!" _A chuckle from ahead of him brought his attention to Tahkaullus who was smirking at him. "What?"

"Bill would be annoyed if he could see this." He replied cryptically, rolling his eyes at him.

The driver looked back in again, "Do you want me to remove him sir?" This being his third look in, Tahkaullus rolled his eyes and banged on the ceiling, sending him back to face forward.

_Poor man probably thinks we're bandits by now._ The Doctor thought as he eyed his fellow passenger disapprovingly, only to get a shrug and a 'what?' look in return.

Fortunately for him though, it seemed that Charles Dickens was starting to warm up to him, a slight smile visible under all that hair. "Ah no," he responded to the driver, a pleasant tone having taken over his previous temper, "I think he can stay."

Oh good! He got to stay in the coach with Charles Dickens for a bit longer! Thank The Other for small favours, he was afraid that the attitude Tahkaullus was showing them was not going to endear him to Charles Dickens! And on that note he turned back to his new friend "Honestly Charles – can I call you Charles?" Oh he could call him anything he wanted, he was the Doctor after all and when it came to Charles Dickens "I'm such a big fan!"

That was his first…no second…no wait _third _blunder of the night – calling himself Charles' fan – the author frowned in bewilderment. "Err…a what?" He asked, "you're a big what?"

"A fan!" He replied, not catching on. "That's me completely. Number one fan!"

"A…fan?" Charles was still trying to understand the context of what the Doctor claimed himself to be, "How exactly are you a fan?" He enquired, "In what way do you resemble a meanings to keep one's self cool?"

_Gah!_ The Doctor's eyes widened as he realised his mistake, and immediately wanted to slap himself._ Making mistakes all over the place tonight!_

"It's slang, Mr Dickens." Tahkaullus put in before the Doctor could remedy his miswording, garnering the attention of the author, "It means fanatic, devoted to you. An admirer of your work to the levels of madness." Then he glanced at the Doctor, "Though he was probably already there before that. And can I say that I too am quite the fair admirer of your work." That got another smile out of the aging man. But then he pulled a face, "But I have to ask, _Martin Chuzzlewit._ That American bit…I'm sorry but what? What was that all about? Since when do we play to the crowd? That padding ruined the experience for me – utterly rubbish!"

Again a cloud descended upon Charles, "I thought you said you gentlemen were admirers." He muttered a bit disgruntled.

"It's just criticism." The red head returned, arms up in the classic defence posture, "Any good writer needs a bit of criticism to get better." Then he snickered a bit "Though I have to admit, the death of Little Nell…couldn't you have made that a bit more serious."

There was something that they could agree on; the Doctor found himself chuckling up as well. Though _Old Curiosity Shop _had been a heart-breaking read, when he actually got to the death of _'Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell' _he found himself sputtering out laughter. "Go on," he nudged Charles, "do the bit, I love it. Cracks me right up!"

"Hmm." Tahkaullus nodded, smiling a bit tightly, "Death of someone else too, if we don't stop arsing around!"

"Ah!" Now he got him, there was what he'd forgotten to do. Death of someone else…Rose! _Stupid old man! Forgetting her like that! _"Forget that, he's right. Never mind." Now he hit the top of the coach, barking at the driver to go faster. This box really wasn't going anywhere near to the speed it could get up to, was it even going beyond a canter?! "Get this thing up to a gallop for god's sake! We need to catch up to 'em!"

"Who exactly _is_ in that hearse?" Charles asked curiously.

"My friend."

"_Our _friend." Tahkaullus stressed, "She's only nineteen and supposed to be in his care!" He jabbed a sharp finger at the Doctor, his previous anger coming back. "Five minutes in and she's already in danger!"

Those words did more to incense the man than anything else the Doctor had said in the last ten minutes. "Then why waste my time with dry old books?" Charles demanded, "This is far more important! Driver!" he called up, "Drive on! Be swift! The chase is on!" The response was immediate, authority winning out over surprise guests and terrifying men in black. There was the crack of a whip and a horse's protests before the coach suddenly lurched forward, the clopping of the horse's hooves increasing in frequency.

Though he took issue with using a whip to spur an animal to speed up, the Doctor smiled at the increased pace. "Atta boy, Charley!"

"Nobody calls me 'Charley.'" He replied, keeping his voice calm and dignified.

"I hear Ellen Ternan does." Tahkaullus pointed out, a hint of disapproval slipping into his tone. "Not any of my business I guess, and then considering the company I keep, but she was eighteen and you were forty-five." He sighed at the look that got from the old man. "Don't bother asking how I know, Charles. If I was going to blackmail you I would've done it when I first found out."

"Now who's getting sidetracked?!" The Doctor snapped, honestly couldn't anyone but him keep a set notion on what was important here? Was he the only one who cared about what happened to Rose?

* * *

**A/N:** So yeah, added a bit more about Charles Dickens personal life in at the end there. I thought it'd be nice to put in a bit of foreshadowing to what's ahead - not in the Unquiet Dead segment of the story but the story itself as a whole. And of course I have to have the Doctor contradict himself at the end, we all know what he's like.  
As for the bits in bold:  
**Miss Anthony** - Relates to Susan B. Anthony, one of the foremost advocates for women's rights in America. In 1869 she co-founded the NWSA (National Woman Suffrage Association) with fellow advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton, serving as vice-president-at-large until 1892 when she became President.  
**September, **24th 1869 Saw the Fisk/Gould scandal in America, also known as Black Friday. An effort, by two speculators to corner the gold market of the New York Gold Exchange.  
**Mendeleev -** In March he presented his Periodic Table to the Russian Chemical Society.  
The **group of kids** that attended university is a loose nudge at the 'Edinburgh Seven.' The first women in Britain to study for a medical degree, led by Sophia Jex-Blake.  
And **Alfie and his Arthur project **is of course referencing the first publication of Alfred Lord Tennyson's _The Holy Grail, and Other Poems.  
_So, lets see...Kaullus has revealed that he has some knowledge of regeneration, and the origin of 'Satellite Ears' is given. Gonna try to introduce a new continuity loop every episode, and they won't always be closed in the next episode. That way I'll have you all going back and forth ticking them off as you see them. And you'll have to actually look because an episode is usually about five chapters long. Hell I'm going to be splitting this story up into the series' seasons so you might even have to jump to different stories! I'm evil like that. Now there's a 'Bad Wolf' for ya! )


	10. Corpses

**A/N: **Right, on with the show! We have ghosts, kidnappings, authors and the Doctor getting sidetracked. Oh and Kaullus got angry. Methinks the bloodhead has a thing for Rose. What does the audience at home think? Am I about to go the way of Gary Stu? Hell no! Those fics are dull and unimaginative! I'm not just sticking someone in; I'm breathing life into a brand new character who's going to affect things further down the line!  
Right, now that I've got any possible outcriers suppressed I say we get back to the story. Remember the poll's still up and will stay up until after 'Dalek.' So please people! Vote!  
Okay, disclaimer. Don't own, might do one day but that's neither here nor there. Damn you BBC, etc, etc.

Now then, back with Rose…

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Corpses**

The first few moments after she initially came to were filled with darkness, grogginess, and a series of differently toned noises all nattering around Rose's head. Everything was a blur of those noises and movement, and she was vaguely aware that she was being lifted up by her legs, then her shoulders also became weightless as something clamped itself around her waist, hoisting her up. After a moment she felt herself be lifted up a bit more as the rougher grips slid a little too high for her liking, any other day she would have reached up and given the cheeky bugger a proper swat but right now she was struggling just to wake up.

Her rather uncomfortable second journey came to an end shortly after it began…although at the same time it could have taken hours, her head wasn't exactly working properly right now. Hell, at the moment she couldn't even remember how she'd gotten into this whole mess in the first place and thinking hard got her nowhere because it resulted in a painful headache. The rough grips laid her down on a flat surface, her legs following a moment later, the decidedly gentler hold leaving almost immediately afterwards whilst the rough ones lingered.

_Whoever is holding me is gonna get a slap when I get up!_ Oh good, her monologue was back. Maybe now she could put together just what had happened to her.

"-oor girl's still alive, sir!" The lighter noise finally tuned into a familiar welsh lilt, helping to stir her memory a bit, bringing up an image of a girl in a maid's outfit, black hair and dark eyes. "What're we going to do with her?"

"I don't know!" Another welsh voice replied, male and a bit panicked. "I didn't plan any of this did I? Isn't my fault if the dead don't stay dead." So that had to be the one who'd been holding her waist. Good, now she knew who to go after when the Doctor and Tahkaullus showed up. Of course she'd like to get up first to do said going after, her body still felt like lead. But at least she was starting to remember how she got into this mess; she'd followed the pair of them out of the theatre when she'd spotted them carrying that old lady away. When she'd tried to corner them, the girl had distracted her with a story of the lady having come down with a fever, giving the other one a chance to move away. She hadn't bought it though and had moved her out of the way to see for herself. If she could shiver properly she would have as the memory of what she'd felt next came rushing back. The old lady was stone dead, frozen to the touch. Rose had been so distracted by that horrifying discovery to have missed the old man coming up from behind her and sticking a cloth over her mouth and nose. The last thing she could remember was a dizzy rush setting in before everything going black. _So the ruddy bugger drugged me as well?! _She thought to herself furiously. _Forget a slap. I'm gettin' outta this and then I getting him done in!_

The other voice, the girl from before, returned "Then whose fault is it, sir? Why is this happening to us?"

Why was what happening? Did it have something to do with the blue ghost things they saw at the theatre? Had she been taken to some weird alien hideout? _Oh god are the blue alien things taking over people's minds? _Rose didn't know much about aliens but mind-control didn't seem as far-fetched to her now as when they used it in sci-fi shows. And human collaborators, that could be possible too – the ugly memory of Cassandra surfaced, she'd had human-looking attendants willing to help her kill all those people.

There was a slamming of a door somewhere in front of her, the voices still talking but now muffled on the other side.

_Well, _Rose considered, _if I'm gonna get outta here, now's as good a time to try as ever._ Slowly, _painfully,_ she pushed herself up and immediately the change in vertigo slammed into her still very wonky head. _Oh God, it's worse than that time with Keisha and Shireen in Norfolk. _Her head was immediately in her hands, fingers massaging her temples as she tried to get some sobriety back. She needed to focus on something else, anything, to take her mind off the numbing headache she was sure to get in a moment; it really did feel like being drunk. Looking around gave her the temporary distraction she needed, the room she was in was some sort of parlour, dark but decently furnished, gas-lamps lit and hanging from every wall, and she was lying on a table of sorts.

There was a faint smell of something, light and airy. Glancing around the table she was sitting up on gave her the source. Lilies, just bloomed and decorated rather nicely around her, save for a little bit where her captors must've swept her over before placing her down.

_Wait a minute. _Something was niggling at her, something important about what she'd just thought. _Lilies, lilies...what's wrong with that?_ There was one other time she'd been so close to a dead body, the funeral of her gran on her dad's side when she was six. She'd had an open-coffin procession before the wake, the whole room smelling light and fresh and airy…like lilies. Something she remembered from her English Lit classes; Lilies were a symbol of rebirth in some cultures, even in Britain for a long while, though more commonly they were more commonly symbolised as a representation of…_Death._

Her head immediately shot up and looked at the other tables in the room, dreading what she would find. And she found it: There were coffins stacked up next to each other…she wasn't in a parlour, she was in a bloody funeral home! Something else about that one time she'd gone to her gran's funeral, she'd gotten curious about what a dead person felt like and had touched her skin. The terror at just how cold she'd felt on a summer afternoon had stayed with her all her life, hence the horror at touching the old lady and feeling the self-same chill. That fear had come to include coffins because that's where you could usually find those cold things.

Then things got worse. There was a faint whisp of a noise behind her, a low moaning reminiscent of the wail she'd heard from the creature in the theatre followed by a drawn out gasp. Looking around again she saw a young man, maybe a few years older than her with swept brown hair and sideburns, dressed in black, lifting himself stiffly out of the coffin on her left. For a moment she was frozen in shock, then the moaning started and she was on her feet.

"You alright?" She asked him, inwardly cursing herself when she heard the quiver there. It didn't get any better when the man just stared at her blankly, irises clouded and white. Throwing one rigid leg over the coffin, he stepped out, that blank look never leaving his face. Rose gulped, "You-you're kiddin' me yeah? Jus' kiddin'?" _Oh god don't let this be real! Please don't be real! _"You are just kiddin' yeah?" She tried again desperately. A lighter moan caught her attention and, to her horror, she saw the old lady getting up, the same blank, cloudy look in her eyes, limbs stiff as a post, staring at her. "Yeah, okay not kidding."

_Oh god, oh god!_ Her legs were ordering her to run and she immediately obeyed – she had to get out of here! Get away from them! Rose went straight for the door and tugged at the knob, only for it to stay firmly in place. _They locked it! They locked me in! _Her terror was rising as the two very dead bodies lumbered towards her. Pressing her back to the door, she looked around for anything to use as a weapon or a defence. All there was was a vase of lilies sat on a table beside her which she promptly picked up and threw at the advancing male corpse. The vase shattered against him and for a moment he stumbled, and Rose felt a second of hope…only for it to be crushed when the man just straightened up and continued edging towards her.

Any remaining pretence of keeping her cool fled her and Rose turned back to the door, pulling frantically on the doorknob, slapping her hand on the solid wood. "Let me out!" She cried out, terror taking over completely, "Open the door! Please, let me out!"

_Oh god I'm gonna die! I'm gonna be killed in a Victorian funeral home by a walking zombie! _The thought ran through her head over and over, on repeat, all while she still hammered on the door, calling out, begging, crying for someone to get her out. And all the while, the corpses kept moving forward.

* * *

Even though it was rather interesting to meet Charles Dickens in person, which was far better than just going to a simple farewell recital by the man, Kaullus was too busying focussing on worrying over Rose and feeling incredibly angry with both the Doctor for not being his usual thoughtful self when it came to her safety, and himself for forgetting that one of these days he was bound to meet a version of the pair so early on in their timestream. It had to happen sooner or later and he'd made the stupid unconscious decision to dismiss such information; he'd already been put off by how…well grumpy came to mind when he looked at this Doctor, as well as just how quickly Rose had retreated from him. It was a sharp kick in the privates, when he'd gotten so used to a close knit friendship with the two of them, laughing, running, fighting together, even the odd bit of harmless flirting that they all knew would never go anywhere – or, not anywhere with him. They'd looked at him and all they'd seen was a stranger…and that hurt, that really painfully hurt. Oh they'd clearly met him a time or two, that much he'd discerned from the Doctor's wording, but not enough times for them to make a decision about him.

_Is this what I have to look forward to from now on? _He asked himself bleakly as the coach came to a halt, the Doctor and Dickens getting out ahead of him, neither looking back. _Am I now at their starting point? _He'd seen the…unfamiliarity between the two of them quickly enough, the shyness from Rose and the critical assessing eye of the Doctor giving away all too quickly that they'd probably only met a few days ago, a week at most. They were as much strangers to each other as he was to them. He'd grinned and taken it, made jokes and insulted the Doctor, thought up a new name for him to get on his nerves…all the while dreading what they were going to say when he got one of them alone for a moment to synchronise their positions.

Closing his eyes a moment, Kaullus took a deep calming breath that went unnoticed by the other men. _Focus man! Rose is in trouble, drugged and possibly hurt, and you're here standing around, angsting over yourself! _His own kick in the pants did the trick, and he funnelled that sense of loss he'd been feeling since he'd run into them, changing it into silent anger. _They've taken Rose! They dare kidnap my friend?! _

And like that he fell back into line alongside the Doctor, Dickens leading them.

The hearse sat abandoned and empty, no bodies alive, dead or unconscious within. The Doctor turned his gaze then to face the house they'd stopped outside of. "They must've taken her in there."

_Then they're amateurs._ Kaullus immediately concluded, his fingers drumming on top of the wooden box. _A professional kidnapper would do a runaround, throw off any pursuers or at least misdirect them. And then they just left it outside for anyone to see._ He turned to face the house as well, marking it straight away as a rather cheerless establishment.

'_Sneed and Company.' _He read on a sign hanging just over the front door. _Even the name sounds downtrodden. Too bad Emily's dead. Heathcliff would've been right at home in a place like this._

Quickly he rid himself of those unimportant thoughts, none of them were of any use. All that mattered right now was getting in there and getting Rose out, and if he just happened to harm a would be kidnapper in the process that would just be considered a bonus. He was all set to storm the keep when Dickens called him back.

"Best let me lead, sirs. You, Doctor," he indicated the Doctor's garb again "are more likely to be directed to use the tradesmen's entrance" and Kaullus had to agree there, the man's choice of clothing this time around wasn't exactly what one would consider sophisticated, more street smart. "and you sir," the author addressed him now, "Yank or no, your choice of dress is not one that would garner any level of respect."

_What's wrong with my look? _Part of him wanted to demand, he rather liked the commander's waistcoat he'd gotten his hands on whilst he was in the states, it brought out his torso. The other part of him though, the one that beat down the other, reminding him that Rose was in trouble, kept him silent. Ribbing on fashion tastes could wait for later, and so he sighed and nodded stepping back to let Dickens promptly rap on the door with his cane.

Though Dickens couldn't hear it, there was a level of chatter going on inside the house, Kaullus' ears just picked up the tail end of an aged male Welshman telling someone to say he wasn't in – to tell them they were closed – anything to get them to go away. _Seems Mr. Sneed has something to hide._ He thought to himself, suspicions growing as he waited. Glancing at the Doctor did nothing to calm him, the man was just standing there, hands in his jacket pockets, bobbing on the balls of his feet. _Git doesn't even look worried._

Again Dickens hit the door with his cane and this time he was rewarded with service. A young girl in maid's attire, not any older than Rose by the look of it, looking terrified beyond measure from just looking at the them, three men – one in expensive dress, one who looked ready to bash heads, and the other keen and relaxed (for which Kaullus would bop him over the head later) just staring inside – all stood in front of her. "I'm sorry sir, we're closed" she stuttered, still half-hidden by the door which she then tried to close again.

_That's probably the worst lie an undertaker's maid could think up. _Kaullus thought to himself.

Dickens' no-nonsense tone confirmed his thoughts, halting the maid's actions, "Nonsense, girl. Since when did an undertaker take office hours? The dead don't die on schedule." He drew himself up to his full height, aided by his cane which pushed him up from beneath, "I demand to see your master."

The girl, despite her fear, still managed to keep the not-very-good lie going, "H-he's not in sir." which flew completely in the face of her last statement. And again she tried to close the door, only this time to be met by Dickens' cane which he used to forcefully shove it right open bringing him face to face with her.

"Don't lie to me child!" His anger flared again in his tone, causing the maid's already wide scared-doe eyes to go even wider.

"I'm very sorry Mr Dickens," she apologised hastily, her voice pitching up a bit, "but the master's indisposed."

"Alright, that's enough." Kaullus at last pitched in, leaning forward over Dickens' shoulder so the girl could see him properly. "Now, I'm willing to consider you a mere accessory in all this but please stop lying, you're terrible at it. One," he raised his left hand and lifted up his index finger, "as Dickens here said, undertakers would be remiss to take office hours and so never close." First point made, he lifted his middle finger "Two, an undertaker would be an idiot to leave his establishment without leaving some form of notice, or to even live anywhere else even if you were closed for any reason – and we know he's in because your hearse is left out there not even covered up…" he leaned back for a moment to look at the steed, "and your horse is still reined up to it. And three," his ring finger came up, "even if an undertaker is indisposed it is a maid's duty to at least take a message to her master telling her that there are three gentlemen at the door, two of which saw said master drugging their friend, hauling her into the previously mentioned poorly hidden hearse, and making off with her as if she was some common trollop!" His own temper had started to spike as he went through his third point, his voice rising in volume causing the girl to back away from the door, eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of their sockets. Though Kaullus didn't much care, indeed he opened his mouth and kept going on, "So don't stand there, bleating out excuses and wasting our time! You can't bring your master here? Then we'll just-!"

"Having trouble with your gas?" The Doctor's still annoyingly calm voice interrupted his tirade, causing him to turn and stare at him incredulously. Now? He wanted to point out weird gas problems now?! But the Doctor just nodded past him to the house's interior. Snarling in frustration, Kaullus turned back, fully set on continuing his rant. But then his eyes caught sight of a brief flickering just beyond the maid and, unbidden, lifted to see what was causing the light show.

There was a gas lamp hung up in the hall, and the flame was dancing up and down, shifting size and intensity. _So there's something faulty with the gas pipes, that's not exactly cause for concern. _But then his ears pricked up – there was a faint, almost not there at all, whisper on the air. A shrill, cold sensation that crawled up and down is spine. _No wait that's not a whisper._ More like a moaning…just very high toned. Like a woman's scream mid-orgasm. Trying to focus in on the sound, Kaullus found his eyes lifting to look at the flame itself, "The hell?" Every time the cry came back, the flame shot up and died when it subsided.

"What in the Bard's name is going on?" It seemed that Dickens had seen the odd actions of the lamp as well.

Curiosity stopped him in his tracks, and so he was nearly bowled over when the Doctor shoved him out of the way and entered the house, ignoring the maid's pleas, and pressed his ear against the covered plaster. He stayed there a moment before murmuring, likely to himself "There's something inside the walls."

Rolling his eyes, Kaullus moved past the girl and put his own ear against the wall, and nearly jumped away immediately. _What the hell is that? _The faint moaning from before had tripled in volume, becoming more like a scream than anything else. Glancing at the Doctor, he couldn't refrain from muttering wryly, "Don't suppose it could be rats do you?" That resulted in a queer glance and he shrugged a bit self-consciously, "Rats that taught themselves to sing…badly?"

The Doctor just scoffed at him and pressed his ear back against the wall, a hand subconsciously running its way up it, trailing the path of the voice… "The gas pipe," he murmured, sounding a bit astonished himself, then looked back at the rest of them, "there's something living inside the gas!"

"Like Marley at the theatre?" Kaullus asked, pausing to listen again, though the wailing now seemed fainter, drifting away. A few moments later it was gone. "Where'd it go?" He pressed his ear closer to the wall, trying to find it again but all he got were traces.

Further investigation was put on hold however as somewhere down the hallway, someone was beating a hand on wood. A very familiar someone. "Let me out!"

Focus shifted again, and his gaze snapped back to the maid whose expression had shifted from fearful to resigned guilt. The Doctor was right there with him. "That's her!"

_Forget about confirmation!_ What the hell was he doing, sticking his ear against a wall?! Abandoning the gas lamp and the Doctor, and reminding himself to deal with whoever was responsible for this later, Kaullus sprinted down the corridor, listening for Rose.

"Open the door!"

_Oh Auren, she's terrified! _Of course she was! He immediately reprimanded himself, cursing himself for forgetting Rose's aversion to anything to do with corpses. And they were in a funeral home. Corpses galore. Though by the sound of the frantic pounding you'd think she was being set upon by zombies or something. _Do Cybermen count as zombies? No, focus Neuvo! _Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, Kaullus was vaguely aware that the Doctor and Dickens were following him, and likely the maid too, but right now he was far more concerned about Rose than anything else. And so when a bald elderly man who had to be Mr Sneed the undertaker, and thus the one responsible for Rose being in the predicament she was in, stepped in his way to impede his progress, Kaullus felt no guilt whatsoever for what he did next.

"How dare you sir!" The undertaker demanded angrily, "This is my hou-!" He never finished because Kaullus suddenly rammed his fist into the crotchety old bugger's face, laying him out cold on the floor. Kaullus didn't even so much as blink or slow down, listening for Rose's calls for help.

"Let me out! Open the door!" He was close now, that cry came from right ahead, "Somebody please, open the door!" There was a faint groaning just barely audible over Rose's frantic voice but he could just make it out, a sort of throaty noise, and suddenly Kaullus considered that maybe that idea of corpses walking about wasn't too far off the mark after all. Which would be Rose's worst nightmare, a consideration that got him to the door all the quicker and tried to open, resulting in what he should have come to expect.

"It's locked!"

"And you bopped out the only chap who know where the keys are!" The Doctor snapped at him, pushing on the door himself.

"Get any more snippy with me, you'll be the next to go down!" Kaullus barked back, "And what the hell're you doing?! Just sonic it for crying out loud!"

"I can't!" The Doctor replied, "It doesn't work on wood!"

"Your screwdriver doesn't do wood?!" He shouted back, incredulous. Of all the things in the universe for the sonic screwdriver _not_ to work on, it had to be fucking _wood?! _"Didn't you ever think of doing something about that?!"

"Well just use yours then!" The Doctor retorted, "Bet you took care of that!"

"What do you mean 'use mine?'" The question was cut off though when they heard a scream from the other side, which was quickly muffled out. Thoughts of ingenuity fled him and Kaullus resorted to his tried and true method of 'When in doubt, break it.'

"Move over!" He shoved the Doctor back, almost knocking him and Dickens over and backed up a bit before kicking out sharply on the door, sending it wide open and nearly snapping it off his hinges.

Inside, Rose was being held by a young man, middle class by the cut of his black clothing, one of his hands clasped firmly around the lower half of her face, suffocating her. There was also an old woman there, the same one that Sneed and his maid had made off with before taking Rose as well, just standing there watching on. The pair of them wearing completely blank expressions.

There are many things in the world that can make Kaullus angry: Genocide, tyranny, oppression, racial subjugation, slavery – hence why he offered his services to the northern American states – and so on. But it's when someone threatens people that he considered friends and family that he really becomes dangerous. As such he'd crossed the distance between him and Rose's attackers almost instantly and grabbed the offensive appendage by the wrist, pulling it back. With his free hand, Kaullus pulled Rose out of the man's grasp and wrapped his arm around her waist, all the while not letting go of the hand. Then he focussed on the man, glaring at him frostily.

"Big mistake." He whispered coolly, before tightening his hold on the wrist until a crunching noise could be heard as he ground the bone into dust. Eerily the man didn't even seem fazed by this and just stared at him blankly with those emotionless white eyes. _Okay, backing away from the oddball now. _Listening to his inner monologue, Kaullus led Rose back to the group, hands abandoning her waist as soon as they were back. This wasn't his Rose after all. It didn't mean he couldn't feel her shivering as she stared at the remaining occupants of the room.

For a moment the assembled group just stared at the two standing corpses that were now just staring at them, having made no movement since Kaullus crushed the man's hand. Then Dickens broke the silence. "It's a prank, must be." There was that voice of reason and logic again, trying to make sense of what he did not understand. "We're under some sort of mesmeric influence."

"No we're not," the Doctor responding, a touch of awe in his voice as he looked at the pair, standing stiff and rigid before them, "the dead are walking." Then he turned to grin at Rose, finally acknowledging her existence. "Hi." He said cheerfully.

"Hi." She replied, still panting a bit, getting her breath back. Glancing behind them she noted their new addition, "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens."

"What?" She looked back at him again, slightly bewildered now, "As in _David Copperfield?"_

Smirking, Kaullus turned to Dickens "You'll get no rest from her now," he told him, "that's one of her favourites."

The leader of this merry little band however had returned his focus to the corpses still staring at them. "There's no need to be alarmed," he told them truthfully, "I'm the Doctor. Who are you? What're you doing here?"

And then the male corpse did something decidedly creepy. He answered, but the response was laid over with another voice that was decidedly not his own. "Failing – open the rift, we're dying." That was spoken by the man clearly enough by the movement of his lips and the first voice. The second however, mingled in with his, sounded almost childlike, innocent. Which made no sense considering whoever was driving that body had just tried to smother Rose!

"Trapped in this form," the corpse continued, "cannot sustain – help us."

_Yeah? And why should we? _Kaullus wanted to ask, however he never got the chance. Whatever was inside the man and old woman must have been telling the truth as both bodies suddenly went completely still, their heads stuck upwards and mouths wide open. Out of them streaked two long streams of blue vapour that swirled about the room for a moment, filling it with that awful screaming wail before retreating into the two lit gas lamps behind them.

Without the controllers inhabiting the bodies to guide them, the two very clearly dead humans collapsed in a heap of limbs and decay on the floor. And still nobody could say anything; this was a completely new experience, even for the Doctor. Oh Kaullus had had his run-ins with ghosts before, done more than a few exorcisms, and even been possessed himself once – it didn't end well for the ghost – but he'd never seen spirits animate already dead hosts, which ruled ghosts right out, they needed the life force of a living human to sustain their possession. Take that away and they had nothing to manipulate.

_So if it's not ghosts…_he glanced at the Doctor. _This evening just got a whole lot more complicated. _

Still, he couldn't help but worry as he stared at the gas lamps. Why would any sane person think opening the dimensional rift in Cardiff was a good idea?

* * *

They cleared up the chapel of rest quickly, Tahkaullus mocking the Doctor's sonic screwdriver for not working on wood – which was a good thing to know for future cock-ups. _He could've said something though._ Rose couldn't help but grouse. And when she asked Tahkaullus why he didn't just use his he looked at her as if she'd grown a second head.

"That's the second time someone's mentioned that." He told her, indicating the Doctor. And then suddenly his face became all joyous and a bit excited. "I get my own sonic screwdriver?" He asked, his previous non-understanding vanishing. "Ooh now isn't _that_ a story." That was all he said on the subject before turning back to the coffin he was currently sealing shut with nails and a hammer.

Personally, Rose would be glad to never be so close to a dead body again even if her life depended on it. That had been decidedly the worst thing that had happened to her in the last couple of days, bar none. The sun had nearly burned her up but that was different! There was no desire or choice involved there! This had been an intentional attack on her…by zombies. Of all the things why did it have to be zombies?

The dizzy spell she'd had before suddenly came back in force and she had to lean on the wall for a moment. That bloody drug wasn't completely out of her system yet, it seemed.

"Rose?" Apparently she hadn't gone unnoticed as suddenly Tahkaullus was by her side, looking her over. "You okay?"

Shaking her head at the hand he offered, she tried to stand up straight again, "I'm fine, just a bit of the stuff they knocked me out with." She told him, only to feel the vertigo hit her again and she put a hand on her head.

Shaking his head, Tahkaullus reached into his coat and pulled out his holstered cane. "Here, lean on this." He held it out to her.

For a moment she eyed him oddly, trying to figure out what his game was. Even if he had seemed to be quite the charmer, he'd crushed that wrist as if it had been nothing. Then the dizziness struck her again, rocking her about as she tried to step forward. Tahkaullus was at her side in a second, but she waved him off again, though this time she did take the cane and leant on it as another bout hit her.

The Doctor, finished with his work on the other coffin (muttering all the way at having been lowered to such things as hammers and nails), must have spotted her because the next thing he said was, "Shall we move this to another room then?" For which she was grateful, a bit of a sit would do her a world of good right now. She could just hear her mum going on at her now.

_"Now you sit down right there. Don't know what you were thinkin', havin' all that in one go. Look what it's done to you! Trudging around, not seeing anything before it hits you. Imagine if Bev saw you like this!"_

And she'd probably go on and on and on. Could probably talk for England, her mum. Speaking of which she should probably call her up or stop round after all this was done, the line about her being out all night wouldn't work if she didn't come back for weeks.

Still that wasn't the important bit of the night, and she was brought crashing back to that when they were halted by Tahkaullus and the Doctor who were looking down at something. "Ah," the former was saying, "I forgot about that."

"You forgot decking him at forty miles an hour?" The Doctor snarked.

He just shrugged, "I punch a lot of people, I'm entitled to a bit of forgetfulness."

_What're they on about? _Pushing her way between the two of them, Rose found her answer in the form of an bald old man dressed in black attire, out cold on the floor with an angry red mark blazing on his forehead. "You knocked him out?" She asked, staring up at Tahkaullus, "You couldn't have just knocked him aside?"

Here he at least had the decency to look a bit sheepish, scratching the back of his head a bit. "Well I was in a rush. I wasn't thinking."

"Yeah clearly." She muttered, remembering watching him pull a gun on the person she'd thought had been her boyfriend just a couple of days before.

The latest victim of Tahkaullus' non-thinking approach began to stir a bit before opening groggy eyes and looking up at the assorted party staring down at him. Somewhere from behind them, the maid had pushed her way forward and was now kneeling beside him. "Mr Sneed sir, are you alright?" She reached to give him a hand up but he angrily batted her away.

"I told you to tell them I wasn't in!" He berated her, "I told you to get rid of them! Not let them step inside and start meddling in affairs beyond their understanding!"

At first, Rose would've snapped at him for being rude and ungrateful, the girl was just trying to help him up for crying out loud! But then she'd put a name and face to the voice of the man sprawled out on the floor, who was now sitting up and looking at them. This was the same man who'd been carrying her around the place! Who'd stuck her in that box! The same rotten bugger who'd put her in that _locked room_ with a bunch of dead people who'd then got up and tried to kill her!

"On second thought," she said shortly, turning back to Tahkaullus, "good aim. Mind if I have a go next?"

He raised an eyebrow at her in…well she thought it was surprise, but the amused smile suggested otherwise as he replied, "Be my guest."

Stepping away from her, he reached down and picked Sneed up from the floor by his elbow and then proceeded to practically drag him through the hallway. The poor sod looked properly terrified as he suddenly recognised who was pulling him and he started spouting all kinds of nonsense. Behind her, Charles Dickens made a noise of disapproval. "I say, not exactly one for subtlety, your friend. That's rather a rough way of handling this situation, is it not?"

The Doctor shrugged, "A bit protective when comes to this one." He indicated her, though they both shared identical looks of lacking understanding the reasons behind such protectiveness. In the end, the Doctor just grinned and turned to the maid, "Sorry, what was your name?"

"Gwyneth, sir." She replied, though she looked properly frightened, probably expecting him to do the same to her as Tahkaullus had just done to her master.

But the Doctor just nodded, smiling away. "Pop the kettle on for us, would you Gwyneth?" That was all he said before herding Rose and Mr Dickens into the living room where Tahkaullus had chucked Sneed into an armchair, the old man having found some fire since being taken away.

"I'll not stand for this!" He was saying as they entered, though he was sat right back into the chair, probably hoping it would swallow him whole. "This is my house! You are breaking and entering into my property! I can have you taken in by the Gavers I can!"

"And we can have you taken in for kidnapping. You see how that works?" Tahkaullus snapped right back, arms folded and leaning against the hearth, though his face was a set expression of malevolence just waiting to get out. He glanced up as they entered, and his scowl transformed into a mean grin once the Doctor had closed the door. "Although first, I think I'll let you speak with the kidnappee. I do believe she has a few words for you."

"Oh I do." Rose muttered to herself, cane poised as she walked briskly to stand between him and Sneed, glaring down at the old man beneath her. "First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me," here she raised the cane up, brandishing the end right between his eyes, "and don't think I didn't feel your hands take a quick wander you dirty old man." To her left, she was mildly aware of the Doctor snickering from the spot he'd taken on the other side of the hearth, to which she rolled her eyes. _So pleased you find this entertaining. You try having some stranger roaming around your bust._

"I won't be spoken to like this -!"

"In your own house, etcetera, etcetera." Tahkaullus growled from her right, and she could picture him cracking his knuckles. "I think you'll find that you will be spoken to, just like this, by her. _Capito il mio amico?_"

The Doctor snorted at that, "Italian again?"

_"__Napoli.__Te lo sei perso da un continente__. __Fattene una ragione__."_

"And then!" She shouted, more to get their attention focussed again than anything else, cane back up and practically touching Sneed's red forehead. "You stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that weren't enough – you swan off! And leave me to die! So come on," this time the cane really did press into Sneed's head, "talk!"

"It's not my fault, it's this house!" The old bugger finally shouted, fear, anger and a nice shade of humiliation seeping into his tone. Suddenly realising his blunder, he looked around at the group assembled, noting the look of interest sparking on the Doctor's face. Sighing in resignation he continued, "It's always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had any bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs-" He paused a moment, regarding first her distasteful look and then the mildly offended one on Mr Dickens before rephrasing it to, "the, er, dear departed started getting restless."

At this, Mr Dickens snorted. "Tommyrot!"

_Not exactly when you saw it happen _Rose thought, suddenly feeling the need to stroke her neck. That grip hadn't exactly been a nice fondle.

Further to her disgust, Sneed agreed with her statement, "You witnessed it sir! Can't keep the beggars down! They walk. And it's the queerest thing," he frowned a little as he went on, "but they all hang on to scraps. One old fella, used to be a sexton, almost walked in on his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance sir," he said to Mr Dickens, "just as she planned."

But again he just wrote it off, "Morbid fancy." He stated bluntly.

"Says the man who writes about ghosts at Christmas and on Railways." Tahkaullus retorted. "You were there, and unless I miss my guess, your eyes still work. You saw it."

"I saw nothing more," Mr Dickens stated firmly and stoically "than an illusion."

"Brilliant. You're taking the path of denial," Tahkaullus snarked, throwing his hands in the air, "well then fine, but stop wasting our time. Just shut up."

The Doctor made no move to correct him, focussing on Sneed "What about the gas?" He asked, "The creatures coming out of the gas pipes, when did that start?"

But the old man just shook his head, looking as bewildered as the rest of them had been when they saw the creatures coming out of the two bodies. "That's new sir, never seen anything like that."

But the Doctor seemed to have taken that into account, "Means it's getting stronger," he said immediately, "the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."

That still left one question unanswered for Rose though. "And what, for us mere mortals, exactly is 'the rift?'"

"A weak point in space and time." he explained, "The connection between this place and somewhere else in the universe." Well that answered the question but raised another…how could time have a weak point? Shouldn't it be unable to get weak at all?

"Think of the universe as a person's arm." Tahkaullus picked up, seeing her lost expression, "Somewhere, at some point in time, some idiot decided it was a good idea to mess with the laws of all known and unknown physics. As such he built himself the quantum-mechanical equivalent of a knife and cut a great big hole in the skin of the universe, all of time and space at his command. Eventually, said idiot was overthrown and chucked into the very hole in time that he'd created. The hole then sealed itself, but it left a wound that spanned the entire cut that was made in time and space. Here that wound happens to take the form of an inter-dimensional highway. In Cardiff." He smirked a little bit thinking about it. "After all, where else would you hide something that important? Stonehenge is taken."

"Okay…" that made a bit more sense, though it left one more question, "how did the idiot in the story get trapped?"

"Oh…" He chuckled a bit, pushing himself off of the hearth to stand up straight. "You know all good fairytales: A good wizard tricked it." He nodded a little bit to the left at the Doctor. "Mind you, good wizards got a bit boring after a while. They always turned out to be the same person."

"Getting off topic a bit there." The Doctor spoke up again, frowning at Tahkaullus' explanation. "Fact is, the rift's been letting something through from another location. Probably the source of many a ghost story with this place, yeah?" He directed the query to Sneed, who nodded along with a look of revelation.

"Indeed, exactly how I got it so cheap. Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air and this feeling like a…shadow…passing over your soul." Rose had to resist rolling her eyes, even if she did feel like there was something crawling up her spine, there wasn't any need for them to start telling ghost stories. There was no such thing…right? The whole room though had descended into a tense hush at Sneed's words. Even Gwyneth the maid (when did she sneak in?) had stopped cold still at her master's words, and she had to have seen some of this happen. Quickly though he snapped out of it. "Mind you, truth be told, its been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."

_Yeah, very good sales pitch, _Rose thought, _'Come to Sneed's funeral services! We'll give the dead the rest they deserve! And if you happen not to like it, we have the live selection of living dead zombies for you to be smothered to death by!' _

She would have said as much, had Tahkaullus not spoken up before her. "Where'd Dickey boy go?" Looking up, Rose realised that Mr Dickens was missing from the group, the door to the hall hanging open.

"Slipped out whilst Sneed was giving us his story." The Doctor answered, trust him to be the one to notice and be engrossed by the weirdness of the night at the same time. Sighing he pushed himself away from the hearth and made for the door. "Well, might as well go and calm him down a bit."

Once he left, everyone else seemed to get busy as well. Sneed slipped his greasy way out of the chair and started giving Gwyneth orders, frankly reminding Rose of the stepmother in _Cinderella. _Except less evil…and male. Gwyneth however did everything he told her and was soon dashing out the door as well. Realising he was now alone in the same room as the man who had knocked him out and the girl who'd stuck a cane in his face, Sneed bade a hasty retreat and buggered off as well.

That just left Rose and Tahkaullus to themselves with nothing to do. He was the first to move away, plopping himself down in the armchair and stretching himself out over it as if he were a cat – Rose could've sworn she heard him purring. The sight of him so content and, well, relaxed despite the odd night made her smile a little bit. Regardless of the amount of arguing they did, he and the Doctor were a lot alike: Both dealt with aliens, both of them had a tendency of running into trouble…oh, and of course, they were both a pair of smug gits. If they took the time to note their similarities the two of them would probably get on like a house on fire.

_And then the house probably would catch fire._ She couldn't help but point out to herself, which elicited a small giggle. Small, but still enough for Tahkaullus to hear and he looked up at her, eyebrow raised – there was a faint scar running through it, you had to really look to see it, but it raised up with the eyebrow.

"What's so funny?" He asked, a touch amused.

But she shook her head, "Nothin'." She replied, and nearly broke out properly when he got a look that spouted complete offence. A look which forcefully reminded her of Mr _'I _am _so impressive!' _Time Lord.

"What?" He asked again, now really curious.

"Nothing!" She replied again, trying to get her giggles under control. _Look at him, all kicked-puppy and inquisitive. It'd be cute if he couldn't break bones with those hands. _That thought sobered her up and she finally got control back, for once actually looking at the man before her. Though he looked relaxed, Rose could now see that his legs were jiggling just a little bit, as if anticipating the need to bolt out the door and do something at any moment, and his hands were digging into the fabric of the arms on the chair, likely to leave marks once he left it. Even his smile was duplicitous, because his eyes – those same stormy blue eyes that were so like the Doctor's it was scary – were assessing her, as if he was scanning her and looking for a weak spot. Thoughts like this made her stand just a little bit straighter before asking, "So is this what you do? Wander around the Earth and sometimes you just happen to run into us?"

Tahkaullus winced at her summary of it but answered nonetheless, "That's about the long and short of it. Though I bet I've probably missed you a number of times."

"But how?" She pressed, looking him over. He wasn't a day older than he'd been in her time. "How are you even here in this time? You're too young." Unless… "Are you a time traveller too?"

"Ooh…" Again he frowned, this time at the question, "That's a difficult question to answer, 'cos even I don't have the full story on that one." He leaned forward again in the chair, elbows now resting on knees, fingers locking together. "Let's just say 'I'm old' and leave it at that for now, yeah? As for the time traveller bit…I guess you could say I am…in the very basic term."

"An' what's that?"

"Rose…please," the resignation in his voice stopped her, and when she looked at him properly she could see a growing sadness in his eyes. "Please don't ask me questions you'll already know the answer to."

_What does that mean though? _She wanted to ask him, but again the distraught look on his face brought her up short. He really didn't want to say anything…or rather he did but something was keeping him from doing so. In the end she just let out an annoyed sigh and nodded, leaning on his cane a bit. Now that she really noticed it, the head didn't seem to fit properly. It was loose. _Not as well to do then as he likes to pretend, then?_

She was about to ask him that, but he beat her to it with a question of his own. "Right then, shall we synch up?" Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a small black leather-bound notebook (_Is everything he owns black?)_ and opened it on a random page. "Now then, as we've already established…" he glanced up at her again, narrowing his eyes a little, "and going by the hair colour and amount of make-up it's early days for the two of you. Nevertheless, time can always be rewritten so…" he tapped something he had written down "the Town of Mercy, have we done that yet?"

If he expected that to mean anything to her he was sadly mistaken, all he got was a blank look that screamed _'What?' _

"Okay, clearly that's still on to stay as is...hang on," and here he smiled a bit, "Bill and the Carrions, has that gone by yet?" Again, to his apparent dismay she just gave him a look of complete understanding, with a percentage of zero. "Clearly not..oy me, keeping track of you two is like pinning a dart on the bulls-eye, possible but the chances are never in your favour…ah how's about this one!" He was about to recite something that Rose was absolutely sure that she would have no idea what he was on about, but then he looked up at her and just…froze.

"Oh…" he sighed, still just looking at her, the book forgotten as he slowly stood up again, "but just look at you." And suddenly his hand had cupped her cheek and was stroking it gently, "You're so young."

"Ah…I'm er…" Oh god she was quivering, "I'm eighteen actually, so not young by this time. In fact I should probably be married at this age, right?"

"But not you…" He countered fondly, a small smile tugging at his lips, however it seemed forced and completely out of place. "But you are…look at you." He tugged gently at a wisp of free hair that had come loose what with all the carrying around that had happened to her today, "Still blonde…and way too much make up…and younger than I've ever seen either of you."

_Younger than…_ She frowned a bit as she tried to work out what he was saying, "Have you seen us before then?" But he'd become distracted again, just taking her in and looking so incredibly sad. "Look…Tahkaullus, if there's something you wanna…"

"Kaullus." He stressed. Not getting what he was talking about she looked at him in askance. "You always called me Kaullus. No prompting, no mistaking it for offence…you just always called me Kaullus." But that meant nothing to her…but it clearly meant something to him as he went back to just caressing her face again…as if this was something he was used to doing. "Rose," He tried again, desperation seeping into his voice "it's me, it's Kaullus…" unnoticed by him, Rose spotted a single tear starting to fall down his cheek, "please…please tell me you know who I am."

And yet again, she didn't know what to say. She _didn't _know all that much, just his name and his penchant for turning up at the same places as them. But he spoke to her as if they'd known each other their whole lives. It was crushing him, she could see, by just how much she wasn't saying.

Thankfully, she suspected for both of them, Gwyneth made her return then. Immediately Tahkaullus dropped his hand down again, stuffing both in his coat's pockets and looked at anything but her. The maid however didn't see their interactions and just brought him a cup of coffee. "You always prefer coffee when you have something extraordinary to do, correct sir?"

Glancing at her, Tahkaullus gave her a strained smile and took the cup. "Thanks, love." He said quietly before looking at Rose again. "Well I…I better see what's taking his Big-eared-ness so long." That said, he dropped down and picked up his notebook, stuffed it back in his coat, and without so much as another glance their way, practically ran out of the living room.

The awkward air that left was not broken for some time as Gwyneth made a hasty excuse to get back to work and hurried out again, leaving Rose now with even more questions than before. Nevertheless they took a back seat as she recalled the look on Tahkaullus face when she didn't respond to his last questions. Sad didn't do what she'd seen there justice.

He'd looked…_devastated._

* * *

**A/N:** **"_Napoli.__Te lo sei perso da un continente__. __Fattene una ragione__._" Translates to "Naples. You missed it by a continent. Deal with it."  
**Well...poor Kaullus. Confused Rose. Uninformed Doctor. In denial Dickey-boy. Bashed and beaten Sneed (I'm going to have Kaullus punch at least one person per episode. Don't worry, the Doctor is on that list too). Gwyneth the psychic.  
Yes, the notebook is Kaullus' version of River's diary but it doesn't come out much. Only when he's really uncertain of their positions in their respective timelines. It's not a keepsake that details every little thing. As was noted, he didn't initially recognise the Doctor. Like the name suggests, its just _notes _of what he remembers of the times he's run into them.  
As for Rose's freaking out around the corpses, it always got me that there was nothing that really scared her. Even the Daleks and Cybers got a miss. Really only Satan really shook her up. With Martha...well I'm pretty sure anyone would be terrified of the Weeping Angels. Donna was decidedly freaked out by the Sontarans. And Amy...Angels again. Rory's only real fear, I guess, would be losing Amy.  
So I figured, let's give her a real fear of something, and the idea was born. Yeah that's gonna contend with a few things later on, but hey! I'm the author here! That makes me God! BOW DOWN TO ME!  
Anyway, voting on the interludes is still up. Please tell me. I wanna know.


	11. The Gelth

**A/N: **So last time. Rose was put in the same room as two dead people that promptly came to life and tried to kill him. Freaked her out a bit. Kaullus came bursting in, punching Sneed out – hehe – without anything resembling a sonic screwdriver. The story of the ghosts is told, the rift starts sounding all wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, and I've completely forgotten what I was talking about. So let's just get on with this.  
Don't own Doctor Who, do own Kaullus. BBC are ruining anything I watch. Moffat needs to go back to writing and will someone go down to Cardiff and tell the guys to tone down on the music! Watch season 1, listen to the music in that, and then compare with seasons 3 onwards. First two seasons? Far superior.  
We open with a scene that, honestly, I probably could've put in the last chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**The Gelth**

It didn't take the Doctor long to find Charles again. A man like that, working his way up through the gutter with nothing but his imagination and creative ability – as well as nerves of steel to write his tales – would have wanted to see the scene of the crime one more time to work out just for himself just how the 'illusion' had been managed. That Tahkaullus though, getting on his case for not buying into the appearance, did he have to have put it so bluntly? Granted he likely would have done the same thing but when placed in a position where he could see how it might have played out, it didn't do much to endear him towards the man who called himself his friend. The Doctor commended Charles for looking for another answer, even if it was the wrong one. That was what was so brilliant about the human race – they kept trying. Always looking for a solution, and always eventually finding an answer. They may be stupid apes sometimes, but the rest of the time they were absolutely fantastic.

As expected, he found Charles in the Chapel of Rest, inspecting the coffin containing the man – a Mister Redpath, Sneed had been good enough to tell him in passing – looking underneath it for something that could suggest a hoax. He folded his arms and leaned against the doorway, watching the man work for a moment before speaking up.

"Checking for strings?"

Charles jumped slightly, glancing at him for a moment, before going back to it. "Wires, perhaps?" He suggested, looking up at the ceiling for any such thing and growling in frustration when he found nothing. "There must be some mechanism behind this fraud!"

Sighing, the Doctor loosened up and stepped inside, "Oh come on now Charles." But the man paid him no heed, going back to his work. Frowning at what he suspected was getting at his favourite author, the Doctor placed a hand on his shoulder "He was out of line, he shouldn't have told you to shut up." There was no need to elaborate who 'He' was, though from what he could make out, Tahkaullus wasn't one to apologise for anything he did or said. _A bit like me in that respect. _

Shaking off that morbid thought, the Doctor picked up on something, "However he does have a point. You've got one of the best minds in the world." He nodded at the nailed up coffins, "You saw those creatures."

But Charles shook his head, weary eyes full of disbelief and scepticism. "I cannot accept that."

"And," he insisted over him, "what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect little home for these gas things – they can slip inside and use it as a vehicle. Just like your driver and his coach."

But that was evidently too much for Charles "Stop it!" he snapped, hands up in defiance. Again he looked at the Doctor with those tired eyes that spoke of a long life, filled with peaks and pitfalls and all of his experience crying out that what he saw was folly. "Can it be" he asked at last, "that I have the world entirely wrong?"

_Wrong? Hardly! _"Not at all, no!" The Doctor assured him comfortingly, patting him gently "There's just more to learn." _There's always more to learn. The day you know everything is the day life stops._

And clearly, as far as Charles Dickens was concerned, that day had been and gone. "I've always railed against the fantasies." He stated sharply, "Oh I loved a good illusion as much as the next man – that's what they were. _Illusions!" _He stressed the word so strongly, enough to tell the Doctor exactly why he only wrote fantasies around Christmas time. Everything else he'd written had been powerfully charged with that dose of reality, which he brought forth now. "The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices.

_Tale of Two Cities._

"Great social causes."

_Hard Times._

The old author sighed, "I hoped that I was a force for good in this bleak world." And now it looked like his gaze became almost accusatorial as he continued, "Now you and your nameless associate tell me that the real world is a realm full of spectres and jack o' lanterns." The weariness now compounded itself as he seemed to age before the Doctor's eyes, looking all of his fifty-seven years. "In which case…have I wasted my brief span here on this Earth, Doctor?" Fear, and not a little bit of bitterness, shot through his tone there as he asked the Doctor plainly, "Has it all been for nothing?"

Before he could answer though, a voice behind him responded. "No life is wasted if one believes in what he's doing." Turning back to the chapel entrance, they saw Tahkaullus standing there, hands in pockets, shoulders a little bit more hunched. Indeed he looked to be carrying a burden that hadn't been there before. Stepping inside, he tapped on the other coffin a bit before turning back to Charles. "Your books talk about the strains of life and the hardships many have to work to overcome. When you started, you couldn't have thought you'd end up here: Known throughout the empire." His eyes narrowed a bit as he continued "Few people ever get that sort of recognition, fewer still ever deserve it. But you," he pressed on, hands out in front of him as if presenting Charles with some form of certifying article "you've always written reality – the best and worst of times right? How can you say your life was wasted, when you captured life so perfectly?"

Genuinely surprised at the man's insightfulness, the Doctor turned his attention back to Charles. He didn't look any more upbeat, however there was something shining now in those eyes. It wasn't acceptance per say. Rather it was the beginning of it – that spark that lights a fire. The spark of inspiration.

* * *

Tahkaullus and Charles Dickens weren't the only ones who had something weighing on them. Over in the kitchen, Rose was going over what had happened in the living room, how Tahkaullus had looked at her so forcefully, how he'd tried to get any vibe of recognition out of her besides his name…How crushed he'd appeared when he realised just how much about him that she _didn't _know. He'd been _crying _at the end of it for God's sake! Just how close were they in the future…or his past…or whatever! For that matter he didn't even really answer her question about being a time traveller. He'd just said he was in the 'basic term' of the word…but what did that mean?! Could he travel through time like them or couldn't he?

The unanswered questions were getting her all the more frustrated, she needed something to do, something to take her mind off of that man and his avoidance of answering questions the likes she'd only ever encountered with the Doctor. _Something else the two of them have in common._ She thought to herself before snapping out of that and trying to find a different subject to focus on. Finding nothing to think about she looked for a practical outlet, which took the form of a sink, a couple of teacups and a rubbing cloth. Well 1869 was before the dish washer, and it worked to help distract her.

Soon enough she was thinking only on how she'd never make fun of her mum or Mickey again when it came to washing out the mugs. Tea stains were impossible to get out! Sighing, she got the soap – a big and chunky block of it – and got to rubbing at the cups properly. She was decidedly thankful that her dress didn't have any sleeves right now, she didn't need to pull anything back to work on the wash without worrying about staining it. _Bit late for that now _she considered after a moment, the poor thing already had dust stains from the hearse ride as well as pollen stains from the lilies. A plus though was that it wasn't torn or ripped anywhere, which was pretty good considering the roughhousing she'd been caught up in half an hour ago.

All the same, Rose was soon distracted enough that she didn't notice anyone else until Gwyneth came in from the corridor having lit the gas lamps at Sneed's orders.

"Please Miss!" She protested immediately, rushing over and taking the cup and rag out of her hands immediately, "You shouldn't be helping! It's not right!"

"Don't be daft!" Rose just laughed back, grabbing another cloth and getting right back into it with a dish on the side. "That Sneed works you to death." For a while she just worked on the dish, before handing it over to the reluctant maid who rubbed it dry. For a moment she regarded her work partner for a moment, remembering what little she knew about Victorian work schemes she'd learnt about from school. Gwyneth had to live in with Sneed but she still got paid, and putting up with him, she probably ought to get more than she did.

"How much do you get paid?" She asked, deciding to get it out in the clear.

"Eight pound a year, Miss." Gwyneth replied promptly, sounding quite proud of herself.

As for Rose though, she was fighting to keep her lower jaw from collapsing at the sheer difference in their times on the concept of minimum wage. "How much?" She asked again, trying to wrap her head around it.

"I know." The maid nodded happily, completely missing the dumbfounded expression on Rose's face "I would've been happy with just six."

Stumped for a moment, it took her a moment to get her head working again. _Eight pound a year? And she'd have been fine with _six? Granted she figured that was probably a lot more in 1869, and she could remember her mum telling her about how you used to be able to buy a Mars bar for sixpence when she was a kid. But still, it rattled her twenty-first century mind. "So…" and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to know the answer to this "did you go to school or what?"

"Of course I did." Gwyneth replied, putting down the dish and rag, looking mildly scandalised, "What do you think I am, an urchin?" She smiled a bit proudly to herself, "I went every Sunday, nice and proper."

"What? Once a week?" Suddenly Rose was reassessing the maid's plight. One day of school a week would've been a dream come true to any number of her friends back home.

She smiled again, that liveliness that she'd at first mistaken for nerves coming back into her step as she bounced back and forth. "We did sums and everything." Then the grin dimmed a bit and she leaned in, a look of utter contempt taking over her features. "To be honest…I hated every moment of it."

_So some things really do never change. _Rose couldn't help laughing at her own thoughts, "Me too!" She agreed, memories of boring hours sat behind a desk or a table as some old fart or daft cow rambled on and on, putting half the class to sleep with their words. She'd made an honest stab at it, but they'd made it so…unenthusiastic, dull. Boring. In the end, she'd gone off with Jimmy Stones because he at least had seemed exciting. She'd ignored Mickey's warnings, flat out blanked her mum, and had run off with him.

_And look how that ended up. _That 'romantic runaway' had ended in a caravan, eight hundred quid out of pocket, and in a torn up night shirt. She still couldn't entirely recall how that had gone down, or how she'd gotten home, but could clearly remember Jimmy coming out holding the shorter straw; two days later she'd found out he'd been arrested on rape charges screaming something about a 'bloody headed man.' They'd said he was raving.

Still, it had been fun at the start. New. Exciting. Something she expected Gwyneth had been hoping for her life too, especially when she confided her next big secret. "Don't tell anyone…" she glanced out at the door to the rest of the house before carrying on, smiling excitedly "but one time, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own!"

Oh this definitely felt familiar, Rose found herself grinning nostalgically as memories of her own cavorting rose up. "I've done plenty of that," she assured, "I used to go down to the shops with my mates Keisha and Shireen. And we used to go look at boys!"

She should've probably mentioned most of the boys she'd gone taking a peek at were the models in magazines – it was Shir and Keish who'd been more into getting a look at the real deal – though there was that one time when they'd gone down near her future place of employment when she'd caught the eye of a chap in tweed and a bow tie of all things, with floppy brown hair and cheekbones to die for. Regardless of his choice of outfit, he'd been a delicious sight.

Either way, Gwyneth's doe-eyes were wide open again, her cheeks going a bit red. "Oh…well, I don't know about that Miss." She said hurriedly, turning her attention to the already dry dish in her hands.

_Oh, there's a story there. _"C'mon," Rose urged, "times haven't changed that much." She put her things aside sitting herself up on the sink counter, pulling up the material of her pink skirt so nothing caught, kicking her legs to and fro, leaning in to whisper comparatively. "I bet you've done the same."

"I don't think so miss!" She could practically _hear _the blush in those words, making her want to giggle like the naughty schoolgirl she'd been at one point.

"Gwyneth!" She chuckled a little, "You can tell me! I bet you've got your eye on someone."

"Well…" Success! Gwyneth turned back around, though there was still that timid look about her but she at least had the beginnings of a smile "I suppose…there is one lad. The butcher's boy, he comes by every Tuesday." And here it was like Rose was looking at a reflection of herself when looking at Gwyneth now: Starry eyed, a little sigh, and a dreamy smile. "Such a lovely smile on him."

"Oh I know all about a good smile." Rose nodded, smiling over the numerous pretty lads who'd flashed their pearly whites her way, Mickey not being the only one of the lot. Of course, where there was one, the other must follow. "Good smile. Nice bum."

And again she was pretty sure Gwyneth would have a heart attack. "Well I have never heard the like!" She exclaimed…five seconds before the pair of them descended into a bout of giggles that transcended all of time, that men of Rose's time categorised as 'women's scheming.'

"Ask him out!" Rose urged after their impromptu giggle session, "Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start." Despite the fact that she'd been part of that whole kidnapping business, she found that she rather liked this Victorian maid. Talking to her felt almost…normal. As if she'd never left home in the first place and she was over at a friend's house exchanging gossip and not chasing leads on the big blue gas creature with Charles Dickens and a man who seemed far too cosy with her than should be allowed at this point in time.

Before she could go back down that trail of thought, Gwyneth's laughter at her supposedly absurd suggestion brought her back to her more relaxed subject. "I swear," She said jubilantly, "it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you talk like some sort of wild thing!"

That halted her for a moment, once again reminded of just how not normal this situation was. In her time, this was usually the part where everything dissolved into a pillow fight for ten minutes, but here it was clear that such concepts as just chatting to a bloke first if you were a woman was the thing whispered behind closed doors. But a wild thing?

"Well maybe I am," Rose pointed out, before taking the plunge and suggesting "maybe that's a good thing." And like that, the fun conversation was replaced with a seriousness that she wasn't all that familiar with dealing with yet. But still, she liked Gwyneth, felt like she was someone who deserved more than she was getting. She seemed to be wasting her life, her very potentially good life, in the service of a crotchety old man. "You need more in your life than just Mr Sneed."

"Ah now," the maid started, becoming a bit more reproachful, "that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to take me in, because I lost my mum and dad when I was twelve."

And now she felt properly guilty, "Oh, I'm sorry." Rose knew all about that. Her mum always got a bit teary eyed around this time of the month, because March had been the month her dad had died.

But Gwyneth, smiling again, simply waved her apologies off, "Thank you, Miss but it's all right." Her smile went to a bright beam now, "I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me." She finished with an air of certainty.

There wasn't anything Rose could really say to that, her own opinions on religion being blurred at best. She'd never had much in the way of faith, though the idea that any one person had the power to create the universe all by himself had for a long time seemed laughable. Then she'd met the Doctor, seen the inside of the TARDIS, and gone to see her world end. After that, she really couldn't say what was possible.

If her silence bothered Gwyneth, she didn't say anything. She just smiled, adding on to her previous statement. "Maybe your dad's waiting up there for you too, Miss."

"Yeah…maybe…" As was stated, she never really had any proper belief in religion or afterlife or stuff like that…and that was when it hit her exactly what Gwyneth had said. "Who told you he was dead?"

The girl's eyes suddenly widened, as if catching what she'd said as well, and suddenly flicked back around, picking up the dish and stacking it away. "I don't know," she said, deceptively lightly, "must've been the Doctor."

Well yeah that would've made sense, if she'd even told him about what happened to her father. "My dad died years back." Right back when she'd still been a baby. She'd never gotten a chance to know him, to see what he was like. And she likely never would, time machine or no.

However, Gwyneth wasn't finished on the subject. "You've been thinking about him lately," she stated knowingly, "more than ever before I should think."

"I supposed so…" Now she was getting seriously worried. It was true that her father had been on her mind, like back on Platform One phoning her mother five billion years ago, not to mention the notion of a time machine that could go _anywhere. _What she would have given to just see him once, to know if all the stories her mum had told her as a child were true. But that took a sinister turn as she realised that, yet again, Gwyneth was telling her things that neither she, nor the Doctor, should know about. "How d'you know all this?"

The maid turned back, that look of scared realisation passing over her face again before hiding away under a knowledge-less smile. "Mr Sneed says I think too much," she supplied with a little shrug, "I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you miss."

The return of a comfortable subject after the prior one sent Rose for a little bit of a loop, however she quickly covered with a smile and a laugh. "No, no servants where I'm from."

"And you've come such a long way…" the maid continued, no trace of her former mirth apparent on her face. She was just staring at Rose intently, her big eyes peering in as if trying to pluck some vital thing from her.

Once again, Rose found herself getting anxious, and for the first time since meeting this girl everything about her was telling her to run. "What makes you think so?" She asked, even though right now she wanted to be anywhere else but in the line of that intent gaze.

However, it was as if Gwyneth had her frozen in place as she took a step nearer, looking in and beyond her and all else. "You're from London." She stated confidently, "I've seen London in drawings but never like that. All those people rushing about…" the beginnings of a frown touched her brow before continuing, "half-naked, for shame. And the noise…and the metal boxes rushing past…"

_Metal whats? Cars?! _And suddenly Rose's anxiety was replaced with curiosity again as she listened to the girl before her ramble on about a world that was so very familiar to her. _How does she know all of this? Is she getting it from me? Is she reading my mind?!_

"And the birds in the sky" Gwyneth went on, before catching herself and picking up more "no they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying?" Her voice shook with a touch of her on fear at what she was talking about. She took another step towards Rose, who was now absolutely certain that the girl was somehow looking into her mind and seeing her world through her eyes…but how was she doing it? Gwyneth kept her from asking though as she spoke up again, true terror and awe in her tone "And you – you've flown so far, further than anyone and yet to fly further on! The Pandorica will open, silence will fall and you flying to meet it, carrying them with you…the things you've seen…the darkness…" There was a moment when she looked like she was going to stop before starting up again "The Thief…the Child…the Conduit…and…" Once more her tone lit itself with that unknown fear as she stared right at Rose before backing away in horror. "the big bad wolf!"

Her retreat though was cut short as she backed right into a stack of shelves storing plates, her back slamming against it causing the crockery to rattle loudly around them. And suddenly it was as if whatever hold Rose had on her was broken, and she was all set to run and find the Doctor when she suddenly caught Gwyneth's eye. She was still desperately terrified, but now her entire face showed it instead of just her eyes. It made her falter and she suddenly considered what she'd seen. Had Gwyneth done that on purpose? If so why did she suddenly look scared as well as sound it?

The maid in question was talking again, though now it wasn't the droning from before but her normal coherency bathed in terrified babbling. "I'm sorry! I'm very sorry Miss! I can't help it – ever since I was a little girl. Me' mam said I had the sight, she told me to hide it!"

"But it's getting stronger." The deep northern tone caught both girls unaware and they turned to face the shadowy figure of the Doctor standing in the doorway. He wasn't alone either, as Tahkaullus stood inside the kitchen to one side, arms folded, expression guarded as he stared at Gwyneth. From the look on his face, Rose had to wonder just how long he and the Doctor had been standing there listening in. Though where his stance was closed, the Doctor's was still open as he continued gently, "Your visions have been getting more precise, seeing more every time. Am I right?"

Gwyneth nodded, still incredibly shaky from her ordeal and his unnoticed entrance. "All the time sir. Every night," She waved at her temple "voices in my head."

"Not voices." Tahkaullus countered, "Echoes, of events and lives hundreds of years in either direction." He stepped forward, arms still folded. "And living on the rift for so long, having all of time and space blasted at you…you've become a part of it." For a moment, Rose thought she caught something flit across his face; a look of…understanding? Did he know what was happening to her?

Also, Gwyneth was nodding along to everything he was saying, leaning credit to that idea. "I've tried to make sense out of it, sir." She told him. "Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts."

"Well that should help." The Doctor spoke up from his position, not having moved in when Tahkaullus stepped towards her. "You can show us what to do."

Gwyneth wasn't the only one who was wondering what he was on about. Rose had been listening intently to the way Tahkaullus had been describing what the maid could see and how she could see it, all the while notably keeping his attention as far away from her as possible. And it seemed he too had come to the same conclusion that the Doctor had, though by the way he refrained from letting out a deep sigh she suspected what he had in mind was not exactly the most…'Spock' way to go about it.

He didn't disappoint when he told them all, eyes widening and voice filled with excitement, "We're gonna have a séance."

If she hadn't been leaning against the sink, Rose might have collapsed as she let out an exasperated snort. _A séance? Speaking to ghosts is his master plan? Really?_ From the easy grin on the Doctor's face, as well as the eye-roll from Tahkaullus, that was exactly what he had planned. _We are screwed._

* * *

Kaullus was indeed not looking at Rose…in fact he made a point to stay as far away from her as possible as the Doctor led them into the parlour where he'd already cleared away most of the outstanding chairs, leaving five circled around the wooden table that had been placed in the centre of the room. Hurt by the Doctor's subtle snub, he covered it up by snorting and grabbed another one, placing it firmly at the other end of the table. _That makes both of them._ He thought morosely as he slipped his coat off, putting it over the back of the chair.

Once the Doctor left the room to gather the rest of the household, the air took on a bit of awkwardness as Rose stayed beside Gwyneth, glancing his way every so often. He wouldn't have minded as much if he didn't know exactly what she was wondering right now. _She wants to know if I can be trusted…if I'm even really on their side at all._ Feeling that gut-punch that he'd gotten when she'd asked him flat out who he was, calling him by his full name nonetheless, Kaullus quickly averted his gaze, finding a very interesting spot on the table – an odd speck of dirt that Gwyneth must've missed the last time she cleaned it – and just looked at it.

_I hate this…I absolutely hate this…_He was on one of those ridiculous, out of the way, only-happens-once-a-century-or-so romps with two of the most important people in the world…and they knew absolutely nothing about him.

I only he could have been distracted from his thoughts as the Doctor brought Sneed and Dickens into the parlour. The Doctor saw him sitting down and snorted, "Can't take a hint can you?"

"Well considering all the mistakes you've made," he muttered at him bitterly, just barely audible, "I think it's a good thing I'm here."

And that was another thing; it didn't matter that they were still virtually strangers to each other, didn't matter that they didn't know him as well as they should, didn't matter even if they'd only met last week. He couldn't help but feel angry at the Doctor's blatant brushing off of Rose's capability – they'd always worked as a team, when one was missing the other faltered, Rose's kidnapping being proof of that. His registration in the Underworld may be Alpha-Omega, but it was those two who he considered the beginning and the end of each other. Should he have gone after her? Of course he should have! But he'd expected the Doctor to go with her and as such had stayed behind. And that got him angry at himself again…before that terrible yawning loss returned.

Here they were, both of them sitting down opposite each other, with Sneed on the Doctor's right, Dickens on Rose's left and Gwyneth sat between them which put her opposite him. They were all separated. And that made Kaullus nervous about what they were about to do.

_A séance? What did the regeneration do to him this time? Younger really is less experienced. _He'd spoken to ghosts himself, but it didn't require silly enchantments or a binding circle of power – those things had been abandoned by all but the Druids centuries ago – all you needed to do was locate one, walk up to them, stick out your hand and say 'hello.' Sighing, knowing that saying anything wouldn't get him anywhere in either of their books right now, he stayed mum on it. Instead he asked vocally, "Is this all that we need?"

Gwyneth took a brief look around, and if it already wasn't clear what they were doing was completely out of the ordinary to her, the expression on her face confirmed it as she sat down last between the Doctor and Rose. "Yes…this looks like the setup down at Madam Mortlock's down in Mid Town. She uses the circle of life-energy to summon those from the Lands of Mists. Come," she held out her hands, one of which the Doctor instantly took, Rose – thankfully looking somewhat sceptical but still open-minded – adding hers shortly after. Gwyneth's attention then turned to the remaining three not connected and explained "we must all join hands. Elsewise the energies cannot cycle completely –"

"I cannot be part of this." Dickens interrupted, undoubtedly his sense of reality rebelling against such a fantastical idea, and he pulled himself out of his seat. And at once Kaullus was torn; on the one hand he wanted to agree in sticking the idea in the mud, but on the other if this was the only way the Doctor would allow them to communicate with whoever was dangerously trying to push the rift open. And he had a few choice words for that lot. He was therefore mildly annoyed and at the same time relieved when the Doctor spoke up.

"Humbug!" He called out, "Come on, open mind." He nodded back at the chair for the distraught author to sit back down.

But Dickens was not about to back down from it this time. "This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I seek to unmask!" His gaze turned on Gwyneth, a look mixed with loathing and knowing pointed straight at her, "Séances?" He demanded pompously, scoffing at the possibility "Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

Sighing once again, this time in annoyance, Kaullus looked up at him "I've told you to shut up once before." He chided. "I was sat down first, I saw Gwyneth sit down. She's not hiding anything from us."

But that just resulted in Dickens turning his ire on him. "There is often a cohort in these proceedings," he stated frostily, "the fraud need not contain the trickery if she has ensnared an accomplice."

_Did he just call me a liar? _Kaullus thought to himself furiously, a level of his depression turning back into anger, having had just about enough of Charles Dickens and his belief of knowing everything there was to know about the world. _If he really knew what the real world contained, he'd never sleep a full night's worth again. There's so much he has yet to understand and he thinks his narrow concept of reality is all there is to know?! There's more to this world than just homo-bloody-sapiens! _It astounded him. A couple of hours ago, he would have been thrilled to have met Charles Dickens the author in the flesh. But after a coach ride and coming right into contact with blue swirly intelligent non-humans – which Dickens then immediately shot down as a bloody illusion – he'd be happy to never have to deal with the man again.

Again though it was the Doctor that got things moving again. "Now, don't antagonise her." He chastised the author reproachfully, before smiling broadly again "I love a happy medium."

"I can't believe you just said that." Rose's words put into light exactly what Kaullus was thinking…though with less expletives. He was on the verge of shouting.

The Doctor however ignored them both and just turned to Dickens again "Come on," he nodded at the vacated chair again, urging him to sit back down "we might need you." There was no movement then for either party for a few seconds, Dickens just looking at him disbelievingly whilst the Doctor continued to indicate the chair, asking silently for him to join and see something new. And then finally, shock of all shocks, Dickens rejoined the circle, albeit seemingly rather reluctantly as he took Rose's other hand and promptly to Kaullus' right.

"Good man." The Doctor praised, before turning all his attention to the maid who was the main attraction in this crazy endeavour. "Now, Gwyneth," he addressed, his tone becoming business-like – something Kaullus suspected he'd have to get used to- "reach out."

The girl in question nodded briefly before letting out a tentative breath, and then looked towards the ceiling. "Speak to us…" she spoke nervously, conscious of all the eyes turning her way "are you there? Spirits?"

On that word, although others couldn't feel it, Kaullus suddenly felt a little tingling in his right hand. Glancing down he saw that no one else was looking his way, all looking at Gwyneth with varying degrees of belief and curiosity. But Kaullus was now curious in something else as he felt the tingle run up his arm from the right and down the left, passing through his hand into Sneed's and presumably onwards into the Doctor who he noted shivered a little bit. _Maybe there really is something to this after all._

"Speak to us." Gwyneth said again, stronger this time even as Dickens rolled his eyes at her. "Come before us now." If anyone else could notice it, they would have felt the increased tingle running through their hands – something was already trying to reach back through the connection. "Spirits I beseech you, speak to us so that we may relieve you of your burde –" And then she cut off as the tingling began to feel like a proper charge, though only Kaullus and, it seemed, the Doctor could feel it, running through them at a mile a minute.

And then there it was, the whispering that always came before these strange creatures. Quiet at first, only Kaullus' ears allowing him to hear them, the voices began to grow in volume, though they still remained hushed and vulnerable…almost as if they were injured, which only served to further his distrust of whatever these creatures were. The deceitful tactic of garnering trust – pity – through pain was an old, tried, and true method of getting the sentimental ones on their side.

His gaze shot to Rose as she suddenly sat up a bit straighter, "Can you hear that?" She asked the rest of them, the voices having become audible to her.

"Nothing can happen!" Dickens insisted beside her "This is sheer folly."

"Look at her!" She retorted, just as insistently even as her attention was taken away by Gwyneth who was now sat rigid, head thrown back as something descended from around them.

"I see them…" She was whispering, her eyes skipping around in their sockets as the underlying current became a numbing sensation that rushed through Kaullus' body, too quick for him to register anymore. Gwyneth however still seemed euphoric as the gas creatures began to descend. "I feel them!"

In fact everyone was transpired by the spectacle as the blue apparitions began to take form and yet slip away at the same time. Even Dickens was captured by them. The murmuring however stayed, and Kaullus just made out a smidgeon of speech: _'connection failing.' _

"What're they saying?" Rose asked, unable to hear them clearly.

It only took the Doctor a moment to understand what was wrong, "They can't get through the rift." Again he turned to Gwyneth with instructions. "Listen to me, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep, allow them through."

At this point though, Kaullus made a decision that he expected he'd probably regret later, but right now he didn't see any other option. Key to the rift or not, Gwyneth was still human with a human mind, not designed for longevity or the entirety of time and space running through her head. But the Doctor – or at least this Doctor considering what he'd seen so far – would probably keep her going until she either made a link or cracked under the pressure. _But if he's so insistent… _

"Gwyneth." He spoke up. "Don't try to grab it all at once, we don't want the universe ending on us."

The girl however still looked troubled, having the entirety of the rift suddenly connect with her. _Not all that surprising I guess. _Kaullus considered. _It's like with Amy and the cracks, except Gwyneth can actually see and hear everything she's experiencing._

"We're just looking for a name, Gwyneth." He tried again. "Those voices in your head? Listen for them now."

A few brief moments passed by, and Kaullus was aware now that the people sat at the table were now alternating their gazes from Gwyneth to him and back again. _Let them watch. _He thought, sparing a moment to glance at the Doctor's suspicious stare and Rose's own confused one.

Shaking them away he focussed on the maid of the hour. "We're looking for a name." He told her "There's power in words and naming is amongst the most potent. Find the name and these creatures should respond."

"How d'you know that?" The Doctor asked, genuine curiosity colouring his tone for once this evening.

Shrugging, knowing he couldn't give away exactly how he knew what he knew, Kaullus just responded, with a little mischievous smirk "How d'you think?"

A sudden ripple in the circuit brought him back to Gwyneth though as he felt something, he couldn't tell what, change. The current running through him now felt stronger, more potent. As if something had latched on. "Gwyneth?" He asked carefully. "Have you found their name?"

For a moment it looked like she wouldn't reply, her head still pulled back. And then she began to bring it back down, a set look of concentration fixed onto her face. She looked him dead in the eye and said confidently and happily, "Yes."

As if her voicing her own triumph had the magic key to the lock, three gaseous figures erupted behind her. Unlike before, what had looked like blankets of indistinguishable cloud, Kaullus could now make out the outlines of a translucent body in these creatures. Though the lower half was still mostly wavy, from the chest up, they had a humanoid look to them, the one in front having long flowing blue hair that dissolved into the air behind it.

The occupants of the parlour all went slack jawed, most out of awe, one as he felt his whole constructed world collapse around him, and a final one out of sheer delight at seeing something new.

"Great God…" Sneed whispered, wide-eyed and slightly fearful, "spirits from the other side."

"The other side of the universe." The Doctor corrected, though his gaze never left the hovering gaseous beings before him.

"Pity us," The leader said, its voice high and youthful…vulnerable, "pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us." It spoke quickly, as if there was some kind of cataclysm happening on its side of the rift.

As expected, its meek plea got the sympathy of the Doctor – whatever it was in his history that garnered such a self-hatred about him clearly still raw – and he immediately asked it, "What do you want us to do?"

"The rift" The creature answered hurriedly. "Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

"And why should we do that?" Kaullus asked sharply, ignoring the Doctor as he turned a heated glare his way, "Opening an incredibly volatile wound in the skin of the universe could have untold repercussions to this world. So tell me," it was hard to look menacing when both your hands were occupied, but he pulled it off none the less, his tone growing cold "what makes the Gelth so important?"

The Gelth leader regarded him for a moment, the flaring orbs that served as its eyes taking him in for a moment before continuing sorrowfully, "We are so very few. The last of our kind – we face extinction."

"Why?" The Doctor got in before Kaullus could interrogate further, "What happened?"

"Once we had a physical form like you." It said to him, regarding his corporeal body with what Kaullus could only guess was envy. But even his suspicions dropped a little bit when it added on "But then the war came."

Surprisingly it was Dickens who spoke next, faint and still disbelieving yet now there was a touch of inquisition in there as well. "War?" He asked the creature. "What war?"

"The Time War."

Three words. And looking around at the only two people he knew who could explain that to him told Kaullus all he needed to know. He'd always suspected the Doctor was running away from something, and it seemed the more he got to know his younger self the more he saw just what it was that was affecting him. There were times when he'd seen a look of unbridled fury hidden behind green – and sometimes brown – eyes as he dealt with his foes. A look, Kaullus was sure, that had crossed his own features more than once – the Purge had left its mark on him as well after all.

_"You don't get to decide when and how your debt is paid!"_

Those words, more than any, had helped him in learning just what this man, who would defy gods and devils themselves, was never ever going to forgive himself for, no matter what he, Rose or every other companion he'd met had tried to do otherwise.

And as such when the Doctor's shoulders hunched down, his brow furrowed and pensive, Kaullus wasn't surprised. The only new thing from this revelation was the name – he now had something to call that horrendous event.

Realising that he was zoning out, Kaullus quickly pulled himself back to the present in time to catch the Gelth telling its audience what had happened to them. "The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

"So that's why you need the corpses." The Doctor concluded, the tone in his voice suggesting that he was seriously considering what Kaullus really hoped the Gelth were _not _going to ask them to do.

But the pitiful voice, combined with the Doctor's own guilt – _should've known that would be a problem –_ probably meant he would grant any request. "We want to stand tall." The Gelth leader whimpered, "To feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned."

_Oh they did _not_ just suggest that! _He had no trouble working with dead people…sort of – _do vampires count as dead people? – _but for a body to be animated by an alien presence, no trace of their former selves at all…it just made him a little bit squeamish. _Not to mention they tried to _smother_ Rose! _That also went into account when it came to them.

"Their bodies go to waste," the Gelth reasoned urgently "give them to us!"

"But we can't!"

_Yes! Thank you, voice of reason that is Rose Tyler! _Kaullus had to keep himself from grinning in relief as she spoke up against their guest's plan.

The relief was short-lived however as the Doctor suddenly rounded on her. "Why not?" He demanded, intense stare on.

The stare alone caused her to falter, though she still tried to back her refusal up. "It's not…" She trailed off, that unsure look of hers as she tried to carry on "I mean, it's not…"

"Not decent?" The Doctor tried for her, mockingly and a bit patronisingly, which didn't make Kaullus feel any gladder to have it directed at the _wrong person!_ "Not polite?" He carried on before growing stale serious again. "It could save their lives."

"And damn our own." Kaullus added, his own glare now pointed directly at the Doctor. What was the crazy Time Lord thinking? They knew next to nothing about these creatures and yet the Doctor was willing to give them free roam over the corpses? Free roam over the corpses of _his planet?! _

_Whoa, that was a bit possessive…can one even _own _a planet?_

"Open the rift!" The Gelth's repeated plea brought the three of them back to the blue creature that was now beginning to swirl away again. "Let the Gelth through – we're dying! Help us. Pity the Gelth!"

And then they were gone, like a lamp being switched off they faded away, sweeping out and back into the gas lamps. As for Gwyneth, the sudden loss of such a great power in her mind caught up with her mere seconds after the Gelth had vanished – she toppled forwards, her head hitting the table. The sudden collapse had Rose moving immediately out of her chair and to the maid's side. Thankfully she appeared to still be breathing and so Kaullus just left her to it.

"All true…" the mutterings of the man to his right brought Kaullus attention to Dickens. The man was white as one of his own ghosts, staring at the vacant air where once there had been floating phantasms _speaking _to them. His voice took on a mourning realisation as his eyes dropped to his hands which were still lying flat on the table. "It's all true."

_Yeah, it's true._ Kaullus thought grimly as he stood up and worked his way around the table to Gwyneth. He bent down and hauled the exhausted girl into his arms, carrying her bridle style out of the parlour and back to the living room, though not before he sent a very vicious glare the Doctor's way. _And if you have your way…things might start getting a lot truer than that._

* * *

"You can't be serious!" Was the first thing out of Tahkaullus' mouth after the Doctor had laid out his plan.

But he just looked at him flatly, "I am completely serious." He told the redhead firmly. It was simple enough: Gwyneth opened the rift, the surviving Gelth came through, they drove the corpses until he got them offworld and found them a new planet. Bob's your uncle, they rebuilt their bodies all by themselves. So why was the man so vehement about all this when he gladly helped Gwyneth establish the link at all?

Rose had been against it, but then he expected that of her. She was just a human after all, hardly able to comprehend just how great a loss the Gelth had suffered, a loss that he had likely aided in causing. The Time War ruined thousands of species – the Time Lords, Daleks and the Nestene consciousness were just the ones he knew of – there had to be others who were now only clinging on by the skin of their teeth like the Gelth were right now. But the difference was that he could help the Gelth. He needed to.

It seemed though that Tahkaullus had his own ideas. "If you think opening up the rift is in any way a smart idea," he started, angry and clearly letting his emotions rule him "then maybe I should throw you in there as well!"

So that was what he was worried about, something as simple as stabilising a rift in space and time. "We've got her." He pointed at Gwyneth, still out cold on the couch where she'd been deposited, "She's part of the rift, we use her as a stabilising agent and the Gelth can enter through her."

"Leave her alone." Was the only response he got from Rose as she continued to fuss over the maid, mopping her forehead down with a damp rag she'd gotten from the kitchen.

And there was the other part of this silly problem: Rose was completely against Gwyneth being used as a part of his so-called 'bloody stupid scheme.' She was as bad with Tahkaullus' own decrying statements. Gwyneth would be fine, the Gelth were fine – all they needed of her was to complete the link in the rift and let them come through; harmless! Or…mostly harmless…harmless with some risk involved…harmless with a level of risk that he really shouldn't be asking of her, but what other course of action was there?! Could he just leave the Gelth to suffer in silence dying and alone like him?

No, was the answer to that question and so he would see this through. The animation of a few dead bodies was a small thing in the long term.

His mind made up, the Doctor leaned himself on a wall a little bit away from the rest of the group, nearer to Gwyneth and Rose. Much to his growing frustration, Tahkaullus was leaning on the opposite wall, arms folded, a frown on his young-looking face. Both of them looked in on Gwyneth just as she began to stir and open her eyes. It took her a moment to realise where she was and who was looking down at her before she began to fidget. She didn't get far though as Rose was quickly ushering her back down. "It's alright." She was telling her, "Just sleep."

"But my angels Miss." The maid insisted, pushing her way back up. "They came, didn't they? They need me?"

From the look on Tahkaullus face, the Doctor suspected he rather disliked the way Gwyneth called the Gelth 'angels.' Quite frankly he didn't like it much either…especially when you considered where the image of the angel came from. Nevertheless now wasn't the time to quibble over names, there were far more important things to address. "They do need you Gwyneth," he told her gently, "you're their only chance of survival."

"I've told you," Rose's head came snapping round angrily "leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles." As quickly as she said that, she returned her attention to the maid in question, handing her a mug of something telling her to drink it.

Sighing the Doctor leaned his head back, frustration and annoyance at the sheer closed mindedness of some people gripping him all the more. It didn't help that Tahkaullus had turned a heated glare at him the moment he'd even started talking. What was his stake in it anyway? How did he even know about the rift?

Sneed distracted him from the growing mystery with a query. "Well what exactly did you say, Doctor?" He asked, waving his hand around the place where there once the Gelth had filled the room. "Explain it to me again. What are they?"

"Aliens." He replied simply.

"Like…foreigners you mean?" The undertaker tried again.

"Pretty foreign yeah," The Doctor pointed skyward, "from up there."

"Brecon?" Sneed asked, eyebrows going up at the thought of people from that area of Wales coming down to this part of the country.

Deciding to humour him, the Doctor nodded "Close. And they've been trying to get from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked." Tahkaullus' description of the rift as an inter-dimensional highway was a decidedly good one, even though he'd never tell the man that. "Only a few can get through at a time, and even then they're weak. They can only test-drive the bodies for so long" he ignored the way Tahkaullus' eyes suddenly narrowed at his wording of what the Gelth did, steaming on "then they have to revert back to gas, and hide in the pipes."

"Which is why they need the girl." Charles supplied, though his voice was still hollow and a bit lost still coming down after realising just how much all he'd seen tonight was _not _an illusion.

None of which seemed to matter to Rose as she looked back at them both sharply. "They're not having her." The way she said it, you'd think that was the end of the discussion.

However, it was anything but. There was still so much more to be done. "She can help." The Doctor insisted. "Living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through."

"And again, if you think that's a smart idea, I hear the void calling your name." Tahkaullus interjected, his posture hardly changing, but his voice having dropped a couple of decibels. "The rift isn't something you can open and close on a whim. Meddle with it like you seem to want to do and who knows what could happen. We don't even know these creatures."

"We don't need to kno-"

"And it disturbs me, Doctor," he interrupted before the Doctor could get going "that you're just going to go along with their requests just because they claim to be survivors from this time war."

_Claim to be…?! Who would merely _claim _to be survivors of that horror?_ The Time War was, and forever would be, without a doubt, the most terrifying and gruesome conflict that the Doctor had ever been a part of. To use that conflict as a lie to get your way would not only be downright despicable, it would be an insult to all that was lost.

And anyway… "How could you possibly know?" The Doctor demanded of him, letting the anger that had started to build out a bit.

But Tahkaullus just remained calm, if not a bit vexed himself as he replied simply, "There are people in the universe that laugh at your mercy Doctor. It could be said to be your greatest weakness."

"And such incredible people they are," they were interrupted by Charles who was just chuntering around, still a bit lost in himself as he went over everything he'd seen tonight before plopping himself in a discarded chair. "Ghosts, that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our realm by inhabiting cadavers."

"And ripping a hole in the universe to get here." Tahkaullus added in, still calm but with that hint of anger in his voice that spoke of how against this plan he was. "Does anyone remember that bit, the bit where all of time and space could collapse?"

"Oh stop being so dramatic!" The Doctor finally snapped, having thoroughly had enough of the man for one evening. "Besides, the system's a good one. Use the bodies as a taxi service. It could work."

But that line just incensed Rose, as she left Gwyneth's side, standing up and getting in his face. "You can't just let them run around inside dead people!" She snapped, half angry, half horrified by his plan.

"Why not?" He asked, getting himself tired of everyone questioning his plan. "It's like recycling." Use the old bodies that nobody was using anymore and give them to the creatures that could inhabit them – creatures that were _dying_ – until he could get them somewhere away from scared human eyes. Why was he the only person here who could see the benefit?

Benefits that clearly Rose wasn't about to understand as she went on. "It's just…wrong!" She shouted, "those bodies were living people! We should respect them, even in death."

"Picture it Doctor." Tahkaullus pitched in. "All your friends dead, every last one of them gone, never to return. All you have is their bodies to remember them by. Then somebody comes along, says 'can we borrow these? You're clearly not using them so why don't we put them to use.'" He scowled at his own words as he said them. "I don't know about you, but I'd get pretty angry at that."

_It's not as if I like the plan! _But what other option was there? Deciding to be blunt, the Doctor shoved off of the wall and turned his stare on Rose, seeing as she seemed to be the one with the problem. "Do you carry a donor card?"

But she stubbornly shook her head. "That's different," she insisted "that's-"

However he pounced first, "It is different, yeah," he snapped harshly "a different morality. Get used to it or go home." That shut her up…even if he knew that was a complete bluff he'd gotten his point across. And even if Rose had a point herself, donors having made the choice to give their bodies away for medicinal purposes after their death, he couldn't allow himself to be swayed. Not now, when this was the only option they had. Sighing, he carried on softly, "You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying."

But again, even if she was subdued, Rose still shook her head against him. "I don't care, they're not using her."

"And the rift is not opening." Tahkaullus added on.

The return of their third member of the discussion brought the Doctor over to face him, to which he snorted at the refusal. "And what'll you do to stop it?" He asked him, deceptively calm.

Tahkaullus, equally casually, pushed himself off of his wall, arms coming loose. "Would you like to find out?" He asked the Doctor, eyes locking with each other in a powerful battle of wills.

A battle that was broken by the meek voice of one household maid "Don't I get a say, Sirs, Miss?"

The three of them turned to look at Gwyneth who was now sat upright, looking between the three of them. She was still a bit pale but there was the beginning of the returning of colour to her cheeks, and she was regarding them all with a set look of her own determination in spite of the three of them arguing around her.

"Well…yeah," Rose nodded her admittance, though she quickly went on to add, "But you don't understand what's going on."

The maid laughed at that, wry and ironic "You would say that, Miss." She intoned, a bit aloof with a touch of bitterness, an emotion that the Doctor would not have before related to her. "Because that's very clear, inside your head, that you think I'm stupid."

"Hang on," Tahkaullus, ever to Rose's defence it seemed, leapt in, "now that's not fair."

"It's true though." Gwyneth replied, before looking at him with those same eyes that had stared into Rose in the kitchen earlier. "But you…you look at me and see danger. You fear what could come through me if I choose to help my angels." A frown marred her features and the Doctor suspected that she was delving further in…before suddenly pulling out again, whatever she'd seen going with her. "But here and now," she stated firmly, "I know my own mind. The angels need me, and by God's grace I shall face the peril."

The Doctor half expected Tahkaullus to fight her choice, could see it in his eyes as she spoke to him; a little voice inside his mind shouting at her, telling her 'don't do it!' And yet he stayed quiet, that little voice still shouting at her, but slowly fading into the background as grudging recognition won out. His surprise took backseat however as he felt his own unwanted respect for the man go up a bit more – not only was Tahkaullus unafraid to call him out, he was also willing to let others make their own decisions even if he really didn't like the choice they were about to make. So when Gwyneth asked him what she had to do, whereas before he would've simply gone right into her part of the plan, he chose instead to say, "You don't _have _to do anything."

Because she really didn't – Rose was right, Tahkaullus was right – this action wasn't one that he particularly wanted to do either but it all hinged on Gwyneth. If she chose not to help they'd just have to find another way. And she was determined to do what she could for her angels. "They've been singing to me since I was a child." She told him emphatically "Sent by my mum on holy mission. So tell me, what do I do?"

For a moment the Doctor regarded her, looking for any signs that she was just saying this to humour them or because she figured there was no other option. When all he found was readiness, he smiled and went on. "We need to find the rift," and not just any part of the rift but the part that was letting out the most power – dangerous, most likely, but the only place that could ensure the Gelth getting through.

"This house is on a weak spot," he continued, leaving them and returning to the parlour where Sneed and Charles had listened to their debate in silence "so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr Sneed," the undertaker jumped a bit before realising he was being addressed, "what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

Sneed paled a bit as he considered for a moment just how many times he'd heard the stories about the ghosts in this house. After a moment he answered "That would be the morgue."

_Huh._ Okay so maybe it was a bit cliché, ghosts running about in morgues where there were so many dead people, but still those stories had to have started somewhere.

It seemed though that two people really did not like this part either. _Three guesses who. _The Doctor thought as he returned his attention to Rose and Tahkaullus, the latter sighing deeply, a hand pulling on his face as if he were trying to rip the whole thing off.

As for the former, she was shivering a bit. "No chance you were gonna say 'gazebo,' was there?" She asked ruefully, still looking a bit disgruntled by Gwyneth's choice.

And that was when he realised it; taking into account her terrified screams as she tried to get out of the chapel of rest, her absolute refusal against letting the Gelth drive around the dead, taking her shaking form that had only started after Sneed mentioned the morgue. The Doctor couldn't believe he'd missed something so obvious in this whole mess: Rose was necrophobic.

* * *

**A/N:** Ugh. Over ten thousand words in this one, not counting these notes.  
Sorry that it's taken so long but the last week's been a bit hectic. There've been all sorts of arranging stuff and moving around. I just got settled into my new place on campus at uni yesterday.  
I'm not really sure how this chapter came out. Kaullus felt like he slipped a bit into a Gary Stu-esque personality. I just couldn't figure out what to do with him other than have the opinion that opening the rift, using any method, was a bad idea. This is actually something that I was thinking as well when I re-watched 'Unquiet Dead.' It's surprising that the Doctor himself didn't take that into account; surely the rift is too dangerous to just casually open – we all saw what it could do in 'Boom Town', ooh that'll be fun – so surely he knows what could happen. My guess is he was too wrapped up in his guilt over the Time War to care or think about it.  
On the plus side, the Doctor's now aware of Rose's fear of corpses! He gets there in the end doesn't he?  
Anyway, poll's still up. Vote or be exterminated. You know the drill.


	12. Epiphany

**A/N: **So, the Gelth made their bid, the Doctor said yes, Rose and Kaullus said no, Dickens' said 'it's all true' and got a bit drunk, and Sneed said 'the morgue.' So we have ghosts, Christmas, Charles Dickens, an epiphany and other crap. One of these days I'm going to find the original draft for this episode and Imma read the hell out of it – supposedly it's a lot bleaker. I like bleak. Bleak is cool. Well actually Matt's never said that but you never know.  
Anyway, disclaimer: Tahkaullus, mine. Doctor Who, not mine. Damn you BBC, I shall dedicate my life to overthrowing you. And so on.  
Okay then, onwards. Into the morgue we go!

**Chapter 10**

**Epiphany**

They didn't set off immediately. The Doctor wanted to give Gwyneth a few minutes to prepare for, what they were all certain, the single most dangerous thing to ever be attempted in Cardiff. This gave Kaullus a chance to slip away into the kitchen for a moment to gather his thoughts over what had just gone down, and reviewing the whole seen in his head didn't make him any happier. In fact it got him angrier over the whole thing. And not just because the Doctor ignored his warnings about the rift – something he was sure the man wouldn't have done if he was thinking properly – but he waved off Rose's worries too. Granted they were a bit more metaphysical in the long run but her point still stood. Those bodies that the Gelth would animate weren't some sort of vehicle regardless of how the Doctor put it, at one time they had been living people and it sickened him to think of seeing those bodies, people's loved ones, walking around again. She had been absolutely right – there was this thing the people of Earth liked to call respect, and the Doctor was ignoring it.

_This is why I cremate my dead! _

And they were going into the morgue of all places to do this which had to be getting to her even more. Kaullus was about to head on back out and look for her when the person he wanted to find stepped into the kitchen, looking a bit distracted herself. Upon seeing him there, leaning against the wash basin, Rose quickly backpedalled. "I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone was in here." She stammered a bit, heading back out, "I'll just go…"

"It's okay." Kaullus assured her gently, though he didn't move from his spot instead preferring to just regard her. "I was going to head out to find you anyway."

His words halted her and she just looked at him. "Oh." And there it was again, that weird awkwardness between the two of them where Rose looked at him and he saw nothing of the care and kindness that she usually showed him beside the general generous attitude that she showed to everyone. It sounded selfish but he liked being the exceptional one around her, to be the one that got just that extra helping of Rose Tyler affection. Being clumped in the general masses just felt…wrong.

For a moment they just stood there, neither one saying anything. At last though Kaullus started up again, "You don't have to go down there with us." He told her, "We'll take care of this and it'll be over in no time."

_Yeah, _a traitorous part of his mind thought, _when has _that_ ever happened in all your misadventures with the Doctor?_

It seemed that Rose already knew this tendency as well as she just shook her head roughly, "There's no way I'm letting her go down there alone."

"The Doctor'll be with her."

"But he won't tell her to stop." She pointed out. Realising the truth of that, he didn't try to correct her. "This whole thing, corpses walking, ghosts living in them; it's sick. And I don't care if some war did it to them, there's a line…" She trailed off as she tried to think out the next words to say. _Probably so she doesn't sound like a raving loon._

After a second she carried on, "The Gelth can't succeed in this." She insisted, firm and a touch of…authority? Maybe she was already becoming his Rose after all, "'Cos I know they don't, I know for a fact that the dead didn't walk about in 1869."

_Ah…_then again, she could still be finding her feet. "Time doesn't work like that." Kaullus told her grimly, "It's in flux, every decision made can be unmade with a simple action to be replaced by new actions." He sighed a bit, taking in her inquisitorial look before rewording it. "Basically, time can be rewritten. It's being rewritten all the time. We're rewriting time right now by opening the rift."

At that, it looked like the fight had been completely robbed from her and Rose's shoulders hunched down. "But what's the point then?" She asked, probably to herself but still voicing it as if trying to find the answer at the same time. And all Kaullus could do was wince. It was a bit disconcerting to see her, one of the strongest women he'd ever known, looking so beaten by just a few words. It only got worse when she turned that defeated look on him. "What good is travelling through time, helping people where you can, if they're just gonna forget?"

"Oi, none of that." He snapped sharply, causing her to jump. "Everything leaves a trace. People fall out of the world but there's always a trace of what and who they were." He shrugged a bit before continuing on with borrowed words a millennium old "And, it's my belief that, if something can be remembered it can come back. What we remember, to us, is real and we must always see it like that."

The words hung about them for a moment and Kaullus took the time to see if what he was saying was having any effect. It seemed that there was a start of understanding but just the first glimmer that, with any luck, would bloom into something far greater given enough time. Once more he shrugged, plastering on a bit of a stupid smile and chuckled. "Of course I could be mad off my hat, running into you two does that to a person."

Her eyes widened a bit as she stared at him. "You're mad?" Rose asked, taking him in again.

"My night has consisted of chasing hearses in a coach shared with _Charles Dickens_, of all people, rescuing a damsel in distress from walking zombies, and attending a séance with a genuine psychic who then brought ghost-like things to sit in on the proceedings." He raised his hands in askance, his grin still in place. "You tell me."

"Well," as hoped for, Rose chuckled a bit as well "when you put it that way."

But the job was already done, and Kaullus allowed his wide grin to settle to something a bit more genuine, "There we go." He said cheerfully "Bit of a smile."

The tense air that was admittedly still hanging over them receded a little bit as Rose's laughter carried through the kitchen for the second time that night. When she stopped, the room felt a little bit lighter, Kaullus suspected, for the pair of them. But then she looked at him again and suddenly her smile was receding. "It's tough on you, isn't it?" She asked him at last. He frowned, what was she talking about now? "Me and the Doctor," she elaborated, "you know us, but we don't know you at all. That's gotta hurt, yeah?"

Oh…that subject. He'd hoped they could keep it off the menu for a bit longer until they'd gotten the Gelth sorted. But now that she'd brought it up, Kaullus found himself feeling that pain he'd felt all night come back again. "Well," he started, trying to keep himself casual, "I'll admit it hasn't exactly been the nicest of evenings out with you."

"And you've put up with us both."

_Oh no, oh please don't let her be doing the guilty-I'm-sorry-for-putting-you-through-that eyes…_She was, and it tugged at his heartstrings just a bit more than usual. Most times it wasn't him who got them, he was the one who was used to this stuff, used to watching people die in front of him. He was used to running with them, seeing weird impossible things, experiencing the thrill, fear, and pain of it all. And yet she was still looking at him with those big brown eyes of hers and he just wanted to sweep her up and hug her tight like he and the Doctor always did when those eyes showed up.

But here, now, he didn't have the right or the state of mind to do that. Right now he needed to be on top of things. So, knowing this would kick him in the balls later, Kaullus straightened up and started out of the parlour.

"Kaullus."

…_She didn't…_he spun around and looked at her again as he passed her. Like him, she was setting herself up for what came next but there was still that look that said she needed to say what she was saying. Enough to make him stop and wait for her to continue.

"I'm sorry."

That did it. There was no way he could stay here and not break down. _Not now…why did she have to say that now? _He had to get away from here, lest he make a mess of the kitchen floor. He had to stay on top of things, emotions could wait until the day was done. After everything else had been accomplished, then he'd allow himself to cry. And so, muttering something about needing to get his cane and a few other things, for the second time that night, Tahkaullus Neuvo ran away from Rose Tyler.

* * *

Once again, Rose was confused. He'd run away from her again, this time after she'd tried to apologise for all the confusion and the admitted cold shoulder she'd been giving him at the séance. What had she said now to get him all worked up again? Shaking her head, she figured she'd get it out of Kaullus – yeah that was an easier name to call him – the next chance she got. Resolving to do just that, she too headed out of the kitchen, returning to the parlour where the Doctor was still sat with Gwyneth and the others, though by the look of things they were ready to get going.

Upon her arrival, the Doctor looked up and waved her over. "There you are!" His voice was tinged with admonishment "Didn't I tell you not to wander off? There's work to do."

He'd never said any such thing, but Rose figured she'd humour him for now and just walked over to stand behind Gwyneth. Glancing around, the Doctor noted their one exception, "Where's his lordship Tahkaullus then?" He asked, though it was clear from his tone that he was quite fine with him not being around.

"_Kaullus_," She stressed the name, making it quite clear where she stood on that matter "will be right here. He said he was going to get his cane." Though she wasn't an idiot, that was definitely just an excuse for him to get away from her, but the Doctor didn't need to know that.

The alien in question snorted at the reason for his absence, "His _cane?"_ He repeated, a touch ruder than he'd been for most of the night, bar the whole debate on what to do about the Gelth, and with the new insight she had on Kaullus' feelings concerning their attitudes, it irritated Rose too. But the Doctor carried right on, "What the ruddy hell does he need his cane for?"

"Oh you never know." The voice startled her, coming from behind. Kaullus came around the corner entering the parlour, cane in his right hand, slapping the other end of it into his left palm. "You never know who might need a good caning." He finished with a bit of a smirk, all signs of his former distress wiped from his face as he joined them. "Well, are we going to get this show on the road or not?"

His words shook them all out of their calm stupors at his impertinence, save the Doctor who just sent him an annoyed glare, and they all rose from their chairs, though Rose chose to stay close to Gwyneth. If she was set on doing this then she still wanted to be close by if she needed someone to just talk to.

Nervously, Sneed lead them out of the parlour, down the corridor, through the chapel of rest – which caused Rose to shudder a bit – and through a second locked door which he unlocked with shaky hands. The Doctor then took the lead with Gwyneth close behind him, Rose filing after them. Behind them came Sneed, Mr Dickens and Kaullus in that order, the last seeming to become a bit more guarded as they descended the stairs into the morgue.

The reds and browns of the house gave way to cold stone grey as they went lower down, and then it hit them, the scent of the dead. Rose had to fight the urge to cover her mouth as the smell of decay and rot filled her lungs. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be anywhere but here. Morgues were full of corpses and she'd just let herself wander into the heart of one so easily. Suddenly the Doctor's whole plan felt like a morbid nightmare; he was going to let all these bodies be brought to life?! The last one to do come alive nearly killed her!

_Oh god, oh god, oh god. I've gotta get out! _She started to back away from Gwyneth, the person who was going to let the Gelth through and awaken the bodies. _Gotta get out! _The bodies would then walk among them, past them, past _her_. _Gotta get out! Gotta get OUT!_

She nearly shrieked when she felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her skin to nearly fly off as cold flesh, chilled by the winter's cold, touched her own. When she saw it was Kaullus she relaxed a bit, deciding then and there from his concerned expression not to ask him how he knew of her problem with corpses. If he knew, then he knew. She must've told him at some point and that was all there was to it.

If the Doctor noticed any of this he didn't say, he was too busy observing what, to him, had to look like a medieval torture chamber. There were saws and drills all assorted and ready to use. On some of them it was clear that they had been used. It felt like they'd stepped into Frankenstein's lab – not the correctly designed one mind you, but the one seen in the really old horror movies – except it seemed like there was now an army of Frankenstein's monsters all ready to come alive. And Gwyneth would be the one supplying the lightning.

"Talk about bleak house." The Doctor muttered, trying to lighten the mood. He failed rather spectacularly; Sneed was still looking at all the bodies nervously, whilst Dickens had a handkerchief about his mouth and nose to keep the smell out. Kaullus just shot him a glare. About the only one who seemed completely calm about their surroundings, besides the Doctor himself, was Gwyneth though his joke fell on deaf ears when it came to her. He just snorted and returned his gaze to the bodies. "Blimey," he muttered to himself, "tough crowd."

"Doctor," Mr Dickens whispered, shivering a bit, "I think the room is getting colder."

Now that he said it, Rose felt the chill as well, every hair standing up straight as if something was passing through her. Like the wind…or ghosts…or apparently big blue gas things from the other end of the universe. "Here they come." She murmured, trying not to let the fear she was feeling carry into her voice as she looked around at the still bodies again. Kaullus' hand, still on her shoulder, squeezed gently and she absolutely welcomed it. It was nice to know that someone was showing concern for her, even if that sounded a bit selfish but then again right now she didn't care.

And then they came, rushing streaks of blue blasting out of the gas lamps swimming around them before a large one swept by them all and took shape beneath an arch that preceded to the main storage room of the morgue. It was the leader of the Gelth again, calling to them joyfully in its childlike voice. "You've come to help!" It cried gleefully, "Praise the Doctor! Praise him!"

Suddenly Rose's prior fear slipped away as she remembered exactly what it would take to get the Gelth through: The girl stood beside the Doctor, staring at the Gelth in awe and adoration. Gathering her courage, she stepped forward to flank the Doctor's left. "Promise you won't hurt her!"

But she might as well have stripped naked in front of them and the Gelth wouldn't have batted an eyelash – did they even have eyelashes? – as all its attention was set on the Doctor. "Hurry!" It called out frantically, "Please! So little time! Pity the Gelth!"

"If they say that one more time," Kaullus muttered aside to her as she backed up again, "I swear I'm going to set fire to this whole building just to spite them." Now that he mentioned it, she had to admit that line had been used quite a few times by the Gelth leader.

But once again, it seemed the Doctor hadn't taken that into account "I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer." He informed the Gelth. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies."

_Transfer. _Rose thought ruefully as her eyes slipped over to the white limbs sticking out from under the sheets. _Is that what they're calling it these days?_

"This isn't a permanent solution, alright?" The Doctor was clarifying.

Now Gwyneth stepped forward, her eyes misted with wonder and determination as she gazed upon the Gelth, "My angels," she whispered reverently "I can help them live?" She asked the Doctor hopefully, smiling readily.

The Doctor regarded Gwyneth for a moment, and for the briefest second Rose thought she saw doubt flare in those clouded eyes of his. Maybe he was about to reconsider – Gwyneth had been knocked out by just three Gelth, so what would the whole camp be like? But that hope was dashed as whatever conflict disappeared from his gaze and he turned back to the Gelth. "Okay," he asked of it "where's the weak spot?"

"Here," the Gelth replied, "beneath the arch."

"Beneath the arch." Gwyneth repeated, even as she took up position and turned to face them. From where she now stood, she and the Gelth appeared to have merged into one being with the blue gaseous creature becoming a shroud over her.

In one last ditch attempt, Rose broke away from Kaullus and rushed past the Doctor, up to Gwyneth. "You don't have to do this." She pleaded desperately, that bad feeling she'd been getting about this whole situation coming to the forefront of her mind.

But Gwyneth just smiled and placed cold hands on her cheeks, whispered, 'my angels' to her one last time, and then pushed her away from the arch, causing her to stagger on her heels a little bit, though the Doctor caught her before any falling over could occur.

Another second and then Kaullus was flanking her left again, though his eyes stayed focussed on Gwyneth. In his hands, the cane's head began to swivel as he pressed on it with his thumb. Catching her glance, he nodded at the maid who was still basking in the presence of the Gelth. "Something's wrong."

Before she could ask what, the Gelth spoke again, "Establish the bridge," it instructed, "reach out of the void. Let us through!"

"Yes!" Gwyneth cried in delight, her eyes going eerily wide again the way they always did when she started seeing into the rift again. "I can see you!" She called in delight to thin air, and Rose would have thought she would have reached out her arms to touch whatever it was she was seeing. "I can see you! Come! Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!"

"Bridgehead establishing…" The Gelth intoned above her, its childish voice making the remark seem oddly sinister. A few moments passed as the group just watched as Gwyneth did whatever it was she was doing, until finally her eyes went a touch wider and her mouth opened, revealing a white light that sent several blue clouds streaming out in every direction. "It is done!" The Gelth leader crowed "The bridge is made! She has given herself to the Gelth!"

The streams didn't just end with those first few though, even as the first Gelth slipped into the open mouths of the corpses, more of the gaseous creatures came spewing out of Gwyneth in search of a host. They flowed out at a heavy pace, showing no immediate signs of slowing down.

"That's rather a lot of them." Mr Dickens noted, his voice tinged with a bit of anxiety as the first corpse began to rise.

And suddenly Rose felt a sharp chill run up her spine which, for the first time tonight, was not inspired by the walking corpses that were nearing them. Kaullus had gotten it right…something was _very _wrong here. And now he stepped forward, away from her and the Doctor, to stand right in front of the Gelth leader.

"Alright." He said simply, "You can stop playing the innocent child card now. You've done it."

"What're you doing?" The Doctor asked sharply.

But Kaullus ignored him, continuing to stare up at the Gelth. "You can stop pretending now." He told it, a bit of anger slipping into his tone, "You've won."

The Gelth stared at him for a moment, regarding him with – like everything else about it – a child's curiosity…a curiosity that suddenly vanished as a very sick smile twisted it's see-through face. "Indeed we have!" It agreed triumphantly, its voice no longer light and airy, but deep, masculine, rough…and most definitely hostile. "We descend!" It roared as its blue waves suddenly erupted into red flame "The Gelth shall come through in force!"

If possible, at its words the stream of Gelth coming out of Gwyneth seemed to increase again to double the pace before. All pretence now forgotten about, the Gelth swarmed forward.

"You said you were few in number!" Mr Dickens shouted at the creature.

"A few _billion."_ The Leader replied mockingly, its horrible smile still in place "And all of us in need of vessels." As it spoke, the corpses that had recently come to life lurched forward, surrounding them. "And we were given the perfect tools to complete our mission," the Leader continued, its eyes seeking out those of the only alien not set on killing them right now "the Gelth owe you a debt, Doctor!"

"What?" The Doctor whispered in disbelief as the corpses drew closer.

"They played us right from the start." Kaullus said, looking back at him, looking incredibly sorry to tell them this. "I'd bet that the Gelth never had bodies in the first place, but on their end of the universe they found their version of the rift and saw Earth." He turned furious eyes to the Leader again. "A ripe world fresh for the picking!" He spat at it. "But they couldn't get through, the circuit was incomplete."

"The girl was the key." The Leader continued where Kaullus left off, "All we required was one sentimental enough to think of helping her."

Realisation was in the Doctor's voice as he spoke, "And you got me…" He murmured in horror.

"The Doctor. The Oncoming Storm. The Destroyer of Worlds." The Gelth listed off cruelly, "Who else would be foolish enough to help the 'poor, pitiful, dying Gelth?'" Its voice briefly returned to the child's again, taunting the Doctor with it.

"They used your sympathy against you." Kaullus finished for it.

Then, in what could only be described as a bout of foolish courage, Sneed stepped forward. "Gwyneth!" He commanded, "Stop this! Listen to your master now! This has gone far enough." His words were hurried and sometimes slightly jumped over as terror set in, "Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone. I beg of you -!"

But then Rose spotted one of the corpses coming up behind him and reaching for his neck. "Mr Sneed, get back!" Her warning however came too late as he only had time to look around before it grabbed him by the throat.

Before any others could grab them, the Doctor had wrapped his arms around Rose and pulled her away from them, getting their backs against a wall. Effectively that put the four remaining of the group at opposite ends of the morgue, the Doctor and Rose further in whilst Kaullus and Mr Dickens were closer to the exit.

Already a Gelth cloud was pouring into Sneed's mouth as the already converted corpse held him. At first he struggled, thrashing around trying to get loose, it was like watching a man drown. All too quickly his movements subsided and the corpse let him go, his limp body collapsing in a heap on the floor. The body remained still for a moment before lurching a bit and then slowly raising its head to stare up at the nervous Doctor and a now properly terrified Rose.

The Doctor stared at the body before muttering uselessly "I think it's gone a bit wrong."

_Oh really?!_ Rose wanted to scream at him as what had been Sneed began to rise to its feet. _What was your first fucking clue?! _She didn't usually swear, but right now she figured this was one of those occasions where any other words just didn't work.

"I have joined the legions of the Gelth…" the newly possessed Sneed intoned blankly, staring at them with those same empty eyes as the other corpses that were now limping towards them. "Come." It beckoned "March with us!"

"Well you're not exactly a legion are you?" Kaullus' live voice rang out amongst the flat of the Gelth, diverting attention as he pushed his way through. At first Rose had the hope that he was coming their way, but he then turned away from them and made his way to the source of the Gelth outpour. "Gwyneth, you've got to send them back!" He ordered frantically, glancing over his shoulder at them as the corpses drew ever nearer, "It's easy, just do what you did before but reverse it. Forget the name. No name, no power! Do it now!"

But Gwyneth, like before with Sneed, made no movement to do what he had told her to do, or even to show that she had heard him at all. The Gelth just kept pouring out of her. Trying to figure out what was going on, Kaullus put his hand to her cheek before slowly making its way to her neck. Even though she couldn't see him, Rose could hear the sorrow in his voice at whatever it was that he'd discovered. "Oh Gwyneth…"

Sorrow which was suddenly cut off as another corpse rushed him from behind, this one carried one of the drills that had been laid out beside it which it now stabbed into his back. If he cried out in pain and disbelief, it was lost over Rose's own terrified scream as she watched the man who'd shown her nothing but kindness since day one let out a breathless sigh and drop to his knees.

_No! _She screamed inside her head. _No, no, no, NO!_ That hadn't just happened, she hadn't just watched Kaullus die. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening! She'd seen him, in her time. She could remember him in her apartment, laughing at the Doctor as he was throttled by a living plastic arm. She could remember him flying the TARDIS better than the Doctor for that brief time he'd had control of the console. So how the hell could he die now?!

She couldn't hear the Leader's voice as it commanded the Gelth to kill them; couldn't hear Mr Dickens as he ran for his life out of the morgue to safety. She couldn't even hear her own heartbeat or remember how the Doctor had gotten them into a dungeon and slammed the barred door shut, barring the Gelth access.

All that she could see was Kaullus as the Gelth swirled about him, seeping its way into his mouth.

* * *

_All true. _Was Charles Dickens mantra as he ran for his life up the stairs of the morgue, out of the chapel of rest, down the still lit corridor and out the front door which he slammed behind him and leaned against, gasping for breath. _All of it true. _The whole world he'd believed in, law and order; sense, reason and consequence; social classes and great divides; all of it was a lie.

Back there, in what he could only describe as a dungeon, was the real world that the Doctor, Miss Tyler, and their third member who had never given a name had been trying to show him. Ghosts from another world that relied on the dead for passage.

It was all too much. He was old and stale, his time having passed him by, and then these people had appeared, young and vibrant and seeing the world in a way that he had always decried. They defied all reason, the navvy with his lady and the man in mismatched clothing, and yet they looked on him with reverence even in the midst of all this strangeness.

_Such an incredible mystery, all three of them. _He thought to himself in wonder as he recalled them…

And he had left them to die, one of them already dead when he'd run from that place as a previously live member of their party now aided those creatures in turning the remaining survivors into beings like themselves. But what could he have done? This new world that they had shown him was not his world, he'd lived the lie, chosen the easy life of penmanship when there was still so much of this world and the many stars to explore. He'd woken up believing to know everything he'd ever possibly know, and he'd expected _The Mystery of Edwin Drood _to likely show that reality to the public – the menace that hounded him from year to year, that wouldn't leave him alone in his relationship with Nell, that kept crying for his recital of Marley and the Ghosts – but now introduced to this world, he was a mere novice again. What use could he have been?

But he still could have tried. That young man with the ridiculous hair had shown more desire to preserve life than anyone he had ever seen in this world, the woman showed a kindness he'd only ever seen before in his dear Nell, and the Doctor was a mystery all of his own – old and young again at the same time.

So many notions, so many things that they could be. He simply had to find a way to help them!

_But how? Think man, damn it! What do you know about these things?_

His answer came quite suddenly in the form of one of the blue creatures. It came slithering out of the door, bearing down on him and for a moment he was sure that his time had come. Suddenly though, it let out a higher pitched scream, louder and higher than any of the times before.

"Failing!" It squealed, as it was pulled away from him by an unseen force, "Atmosphere hostile!" And then just like that it was dragged forcefully into the light of a nearby lamp.

And suddenly it hit him, it was his own eureka moment as he watched the creature be sucked into the light.

"Gas…" Charles whispered to himself in realisation. These creatures were made out of gas, and so what would draw them out?

"Gas!" He cried out again, before pulling the door open and rushing back inside, turning off the flame of the first lamp and turning up the gas. If this didn't work…_God help us all._

* * *

Tahkaullus was lost. There was nothing anyone could do for him now, and so the Doctor focussed on getting Rose to safety. That safety came in the form of a dungeon that looked to have been renovated into a sluice and a thin metal barred gate that he'd locked in front of the which looked like it could give at any time from the way the Gelth were rattling at it.

"Give yourself to glory!" They cried as one, still shaking on the bars, some reaching through to grab at them. The Doctor responded by pushing himself and a seemingly catatonic Rose as far back as they could go. And still the cold dead hands reached through at them, which was probably doing her no favours in coming out of her stupor. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth!" They intoned again in unison.

Seeing these faces, all of them once human beings now used as an alien invasion force, one of them being Sneed, brought out an unbridled fury in the Doctor. In the Time War, it was said that when he reached this level of fury no one escaped him alive. Daleks, Time Lords, even the Emperor itself hadn't been spared from him when he became enraged. And it was now this fury that he directed towards the Gelth. "I trusted you!" The Doctor yelled at them, "I pitied you!"

"We don't want your pity!" They returned hotly, still clawing their way through to get at him. "We want this world and all of its flesh!"

_Oh, big mistake number thirty one of the night, _the Doctor couldn't help but think as he glared at the oncoming hordes that were still beating on the gate. If they just wanted him dead, he'd have sympathised. There was probably a whole alliance out there solely dedicated to bringing him down. But they just had to go and bring the Earth and its people into it. Well that was never going to happen. "Not while I'm alive." He told them shortly.

If the Gelth showed any fear at all they quickly covered it up. "Then live no more." They replied simply before bashing on the gate even harder than before.

Of course before he could save the whole world from the invasion of the blue-gas-creature-driven-zombies, the Doctor needed a plan to work with. What did he have? A gate being hammered on, a frozen up companion, his psychic paper, and a sonic screwdriver…he could work with that, couldn't he?

_Okay, so what if I tried to up the gaseous molecular structure? Could probably blow them all away in, oooh, five hours. No, 'cos we'd be dead by then. Okay, what if I tried something with the rift? Use the screwdriver to redirect the signal and warp the psychic link between Gwyneth and the Gelth? No, she's using the power of the Name, that's incredibly old power, too powerful for a screwdriver to overpower. _The hammering got louder. _Come on man think! If you don't get something, you and Rose are gonna die here!_

"But I can't die." The terrified voice of his companion brought his attention to her, and to be honest the Doctor wondered if it was better that she was conscious for this bit. She was looking at him, eyes begging his for reassurance. "Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?"

And for a moment he wanted to lie, to tell her it would be alright, to say that in a moment they'd be out of here and safe again. But that wouldn't be right, it would be an insult both to her intelligence and her courage for coming down here, not trusting his plan, surrounding by things that terrified her, but still willing to follow his lead. In the end, what else could he say but, "I'm sorry." He had no plan, and the only way out was, quite literally, barred.

For a moment, Rose stared at him in disbelief before running on, "But it's 1869!" She stated, "How can I die now?"

"Time isn't a straight line," he found himself telling her mournfully, "it can twist and turn into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it's my fault!" He hung his head, the heartless slamming of the Gelth ringing in his ears. "I brought you here." He took her away from her family, from her nice comfy life of work and telly, to the end of the earth and now here.

And still she surprised him with her next words. "It's not your fault," Rose told him softly, "I wanted to come."

_Oh so you don't mind dying here now? _He thought bleakly, "And what about me? I saw the Fall of Troy, World War Five." That hadn't exactly been one of his better landings now that he thought about it. "I've pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now I'm gonna die in a dungeon!" Then it hit him just where in the world he'd be dying in a dungeon, "In Cardiff!" He added as he realised this, his face turning sour. Of all the cities in all the countries in all the worlds in all the universe, it had to be Cardiff!

"Ah yeah, totally blaming you for that one." Rose muttered, a bit of mirth returning at the sound of his own disgust at dying here. "You said it was Naples, I dressed for Naples, would've been so much better to die there."

"Are you two ever gonna let me off?" He demanded, mock offence slipping into his voice. "He was pulling Italian on me for goodness sake! Next he'll be flying the flag in me' face!"

Unfortunately this little light moment was cut short as the Gelth's efforts succeeded in wrenching off one of the hinges, their reach increasing. Looking at them, Rose's fear came out again as she flinched away again, "'Course it's not just dying is it? We'll become one of them."

"Think that'd cure your necrophobia?" He couldn't help asking.

"Shut up." She muttered in return, still staring at the Gelth as clawed at the air inches away from their faces again. "We'll go down fighting, yeah?" Her voice, though still tinged with that fear, had suddenly become set with determination.

Determination that fed the Doctor courage as well "Yeah." He replied firmly, not taking his eyes off the Gelth for a second.

"Together?" She pressed, that determination still there.

"Yeah!" As if there was anywhere else that he would rather be right now. That decided it for the both of them, they would stare this thing down together and see whatever was waiting for them after the end came. Sometimes even the Doctor wondered about that after all. As such, their hands were soon held together and the Doctor found himself smiling fondly at Rose, the girl who, however briefly, had made him feel alive again. "I'm so glad I met you."

At first she looked up at him in surprise, but that quickly faded away to be replaced with a returning smile. "Me too." She said right back.

They held that smile for a moment, hoping to just stave off the inevitable for a little while longer. Sooner or later they'd have to face the music but for the moment both just chose to let everything slip away.

And then it all came rushing back…but not in the way they'd expected.

"Well." A brash London accent filled the room again. "Nice to see you two back on the same wavelength."

Before they could even register how that voice could even still be speaking, a sharp drill head erupted out of the Gelth that had been Sneed. The body convulsed before collapsing, the Gelth that had been inside streaking out of the body to reveal the bloodied dark red commander's shirt, now unbuttoned to reveal the black shirt underneath, also stained with blood, of Tahkaullus Neuvo, standing upright and decidedly less dead than he should've been. He smirked at them for a moment, taking in their position, "But please, could we hold off the tender moments until some time when we're not under attack?"

But the Doctor was now just staring at him in disbelief, he'd seen the drill go in, watched as Tahkaullus had convulsed in pain before collapsing to the floor. And yet here he stood as if nothing had ever happened… "But that's impossible."

Tahkaullus just stared at him as if what he'd said was common place, "You say that so many times, it's lost all meaning." Then he blanked the Doctor out as he faced the horde of Gelth zombies that were now approaching him. "Okay, before we get started, quick question, easy to answer. Who the hell stuck that thing in my back?" The only reply he got was a series of resounding moans. "No one going to own up? That's fine, we'll just do it the hard way." That said he backed away from the horde of corpses until he was pretty much right up next to Gwyneth where his cane lay forgotten. Slipping the toe of his left boot under it, he kicked the cane upwards and caught it in his right hand.

"You know I'm disappointed in the lot of you." He said it as if he was talking to an underachieving class of schoolchildren. "All this time I've been carrying this thing around and no-one's asked me why." Once again, the Gelth just replied with an inaudible moan as they approached him, set on finishing the job they thought they'd accomplished. Shrugging, Tahkaullus continued, "Well it's quite obvious," as he said this he finished unscrewing the cane head, which fell off and dropped to the floor with a loud clang, "when you run with the Doctor, it's best to come prepared." And then what looked like a second cane ejected itself from the interior of the last…or at least that was what it looked like until it was half way out, the rest of it being a blade of folded metal steel, sharpened on one edge in the same style as a samurai's katana.

Though the Gelth paid him no heed, the Doctor – putting aside his surprise at Tahkaullus still being alive for the moment – quickly ran through the many styles of Earth martial arts that he'd seen over the years. The only one that came close to the sort of weapon Tahkaullus seemed to now be holding – he'd flipped what had been the cane upside down and fixed the new addition to the base, giving him a bladed staff – was the style of the shaolin monks. But those had been spears, with spearheads and more manoeuvrable, that thing Tahkaullus was now spinning around in his hand was huge and bulky, and yet he wielded it so comfortably.

Before the Doctor could ask though just how the hell he was managing to wield that thing, the corpses entered striking distance. Tahkaullus' staff moved so fast in his hand that you could barely see the movement, just a blur of black and shining grey. A second later the first two bodies split in half along the torso, intestines and blood smearing the stone floor. From their remains a sliver of blue gas slithered out, shrieking at their attacker. Another couple lunged at him but he simply sidestepped them, before cutting their heads off with a one-handed swing of his weapon. Again the remains fell into their own rotten innards, again a Gelth entity was wrenched from its new home, howling at Tahkaullus in outrage.

"Oh shut up!" He shouted right back at them, ducking under another corpse and rolling away from another, making his way towards the Doctor and Rose. "Well what're you two waiting for?!" He snapped at them as he pulled the Gelth that had stayed behind away from the gate. "Get the hell out of there!"

"But…" Rose whispered in shock, still staring at him, "you were dead. That thing, it…" her eyes were drawn to the hole in Tahkaullus shirt where it was still bleeding, "oh my god." Before their eyes there was a golden glow just beneath the surface of the skin that was shrinking all the more, leaving healed flesh in its wake.

"Not god." He replied, "Just something new…for you anyway. Now come on!"

"But that's…" The Doctor started again, though he trailed off as he let out his other senses. Now _that_ was impossible. His time sense saw absolutely nothing wrong with the man stood before him…save the extremely long crimson thread that represented his timeline. No wind-backs, no flash-forwards, not even a convergence with himself – nothing to suggest a paradox.

Seeming to know exactly what he was doing, Tahkaullus rolled his eyes at the Doctor. "We can chat about this later!" He shouted, which served to get the Doctor's attention back to the present and the Gelth soldiers that were now marching back towards them, chanting loudly for this new opponent's demise.

_Doesn't matter if he kills the hosts. _The Doctor thought hopelessly as he watched the man go back into the fray, _They'll just go upstairs and take over bodies of living humans like they did with Sneed. _Another body fell in pieces, another Gelth squalled at its feller. _He's fighting a battle he can't win! _And yet he went right back at it, taking the Gelth on, bringing them down, leading them away from the Doctor and Rose, pausing sometimes to give them the odd taunt – 'Come on! I've known ghosts that did more damage! Oh whoops, is that offensive?'_ – _and still they came. All the morgue now had to be animated, and the bodies were closing in on Tahkaullus, who just jeered at them and urged them onwards.

_He's doing more than me! _The realisation struck him in the face. This person who he didn't know and kept challenging him was doing more to slow the Gelth down than he was. A man who refused to tell them anything about himself but knew everything about them was now defending them even though he – the Doctor – had given him no reason to. _The way he acts…he's a bit like…me._

Before he could analyse that discomforting thought, he was again interrupted by a voice that he once more had not expected to hear for the rest of the night. "Doctor!" Charles called out to him, rushing past the mob of corpses as if they weren't there, seeking him out. Upon sighting him he cried out jubilantly, "Turn _off _the flame, turn _up _the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!" Not waiting to see if he understood what he meant – which he didn't – Charles immediately ran over to another gas lamp and turned the flame off.

"What're you doing?" He called out at last, still not understanding what he was doing back here. If he died here then nobody got out alive to prepare for the Gelth.

"Oh, perfect!" Tahkaullus, it seemed, had cottoned on exactly what Charles was doing and he broke away from the corpses, forcing his way through, cane-staff thing forgotten, and rushed over to the nearest gas lamp. "The gas!" He shouted to the Doctor triumphantly, "Turn it all up! Flood the place!"

And now it struck him as he remembered one very crucial fact about their gaseous foes – they were gaseous. "Brilliant!" He agreed with Tahkaullus for the first time that night, "Gas!"

That left just Rose in the dark as she looked between the three of them, a confused frown on her face. "What, so we choke to death instead?" She asked them dryly, still not comprehending what they were up to.

Choking was the word for it as Charles immediately put a handkerchief to his mouth, "Am I correct in my hypothesis, Doctor?" He asked quickly.

"Oh you bet you are!" Tahkaullus replied joyfully as he turned his lamp's gas all the way up "Charles Dickens, you beauty!"

"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw the Gelth out of their hosts!" The Doctor elaborated, partially for Rose's benefit, and also partially because the solution was so incredibly fantastic! "Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!"

"One problem though," Tahkaullus pointed out as he indicated the, rather annoyed looking, corpses that were clearly not having their hosts sucked out, "it's taking a while."

"Indeed," Charles agreed, now finding himself being backed into the corner he'd just put himself into by turning on the lamp. "Oh Lord…I rather hope that this theory will soon be validated…if not immediately." He finished hurriedly, though still finding it in him to keep his British stiff upper lip in the face of such danger.

Thankfully for him though, the Doctor had just realised where he had backed himself and Rose into: A sluice…a floodgate. It only took him a moment to find what he was looking for before he turned grinning and devious eyes towards the Gelth. "Plenty more!" He assured, before smashing his elbow into a canister on the wall, the pipe it was connected to coming loose, letting out the tell-tale hissing of gas flooding into the morgue.

The effect took immediate hold, if the Gelth's screams were anything to go by. That and the fact that the air now contained a big blue cloud of swirling glowing gas. It was almost over, the Gelth were nearly finished, but there was still one more piece of the puzzle to fix. _The rift needs to be sealed. _Quickly the Doctor threw the gate opened and pulled Rose out, who was starting to choke in the gas-filled room. He'd be fine – respiratory bypass and all that – but her plight sped his movements up just that extra bit.

"Gwyneth, send them back!" He told her, rushing back to the arch where the girl still stood, a blank expression having taken over her face. "They're lying, they're not angels!"

But the girl just looked at him, unseeing eyes staring right at him. "Liars." She said simply, no tone, no emotion – not even a hint of any sort of accent. She was…empty.

"Look at them!" Tahkaullus urged, though his stance was a bit dizzy and his words slightly choked as he too started to succumb to the gas. "If your mother and father are watching you, they must be telling you the same!" He stumbled on his feet and only just caught himself, coughing terribly as he tried to find air. "They'll give you the strength to believe!" He struggled to say, "Now, do as the Doctor said, and send them back!"

His attention was diverted though as they heard a weak voice behind them. "Can't breathe."

Immediately, Tahkaullus abandoned Gwyneth, going to Rose's side. After a brief check he waved Charles over, "We've got to get her out." He told him simply before taking her by the arm and trying to lead her away.

But Rose just shook him off vehemently, "I'm not leaving her!"

Gwyneth, however, had her own things to worry about as she attempted to reverse the flow of the rift. A second later she glanced up at the Doctor, "They're too strong." She informed him flatly, barely moving at all.

_No! We can't lose now! _He had to try something, anything to give her the strength to close the rift for good. "Remember that world you saw?" He urged her to remember, "Rose's world? All those people – none of that will exist unless you send them back through the rift!"

"I can't send them back." She just repeated, this time a touch of finality slipping into her voice, as if she had just worked something out; something that would save them. And she had. "But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here." And she reached into her apron, pulling out a box of matches.

"Get out."

The Doctor realised what she was going to do though, moments before she pulled the matches out. The morgue – this whole house – by now had to be filled with flammable gas. All it would take now would be one small spark and the whole building would ignite. Behind him, Rose suddenly realised exactly the same thing, as well as what that would mean for the one left behind and she lunged forwards "You can't!"

She was fast, Tahkaullus was faster, latching his arms around her shoulders and pulling her back away. "There's nothing we can do!" He told her frantically, "She's already dead."

Holding her back gave the Doctor time to reach her, placing gripping the top of her arms, sandwiching her between the two of them. "Rose, get out!" He told her urgently, looking her dead in the eye, "Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!"

Whether or not she believed him, Rose still listened, allowing Tahkaullus to pass her over to Dickens who then led her up the stairs. Once they were up, he made to follow her, though Gwyneth's words halted him. "Kaullus," she called out to him. And he looked over his shoulder at her, already a step up, "do not fear the future. You are a good man…and so you must prepare."

_Prepare?_ It seemed the Doctor wasn't the only one in the dark on this one as Tahkaullus looked just as confused as he stared back at her. "Prepare for what?"

The maid focussed on him alone for a moment, regarding him for a moment before stating, simply "War."

That one word chilled the Doctor to the bone as he glanced between the two; Gwyneth could see forwards and backwards, had seen Rose's past and part of her future. What was she seeing in Tahkaullus' timeline that required the preparation for war? However she said nothing further, she just stood stock still, paper white and eyes glazed. Sighing slightly, Tahkaullus glanced at the Doctor one more time before rushing up the stairs as fast as he could.

However he couldn't just leave her to die, "Give that to me." The Doctor told her, holding out his arm, his hand palm-side up and open. But she just stood there unresponsive, looking straight ahead at something only her eyes could see. Now he was getting worried, all she needed to do was give the matchbox to him and he could do the rest. He might get a bit singed here and there, but what good was regeneration if you didn't use it? It wasn't as if he actually liked this body anyway. And if he did die, Tahkaullus could get Rose home – much as he hated to admit it, the man had flown the TARDIS pretty well that one time. But still Gwyneth refused to hand the matches over.

And then he remembered what Tahkaullus had done earlier that had upset him so. Placing his fingers against her neck, the Doctor looked for the spot where her pulse should be…

Nothing.

Feeling his hearts plummet, the Doctor looked at those dead eyes that had held so much life minutes before. "I'm sorry." He murmured gently, and placed a kiss atop her brow. Backing up just a little bit, he took her in one more time: Gwyneth, the key to the rift, the girl who saved the world in 1869…in Cardiff.

"Thank you."

And then he ran, ran for his life, ran for the street, ran up the stairs, through the chapel of rest and down the corridor towards the door. All the while he listened out for the lighting of the match, that small, tiny insignificant thing that would be the thing to close the rift and end Gwyneth's sufferance. He ran faster, hoping against hope that she was somehow watching him, timing it just right to take the Gelth and herself into the void between space and time. The door was in sight and he flung it open, where Tahkaullus, Rose and Charles stood, staring at his arrival, two in surprise, on in expectance.

Another second and he would have been set alight as well. Behind him there was a sudden roar of air blasting outwards, flinging him forward into the snow. When he looked up again, Sneed and Company was burning.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeeeeah...I expect pitchforks will be coming out soon. First things first, Kaullus is not a Time Lord, and he IS NOT like Jack. No paradoxical eternity, it's a genetic thing that we'll cover next chapter. The golden glow though, that ought to hint something.  
So, Sneed's dead, the Gelth are dead and Gwyneth's dead. Bloody hell a lot of people died in the first season...which is exactly the sort of way to go with Doctor Who. Don't believe me? Watch Genesis of the Daleks and see how many characters get killed that you like. I personally liked Ronson...Davros is a dick.  
One more chapter to go, which is just really a windup. It'll probably be short, so don't expect any major plot stuff coming out, save for Kaullus giving up a bit of information about how he's still alive.


	13. The Shed

**A/N:** And here's the wind down, a bit of information given – hopefully enough to keep you from demanding my head on a spike from what I revealed last chapter. Now we return to Cardiff. The Gelth are gone, the house is burning, Sneed is a corpse, Gwyneth is dead, and no one, save the Doctor, Rose, Kaullus and Dickens gives a damn.  
So let's get back to it eh?  
Do not own, never will, the BBC must die for this unfortunate truth. Etc. etc. Kaullus is mine, anyone who claims otherwise must die. Etc. etc.  
And here we go...

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**The Shed**

He knew the Doctor would come back alone. Gwyneth had to have been dead for more than a little while before they escaped. Frankly that wasn't what was worrying Kaullus right now. He'd gotten careless down there, turned his back on the Gelth and let them get the upper hand, enough so that they could get a bloody drill in his back – which still stung by the way – and now the Doctor and Rose knew of his…condition. Of course, they'd already known about it when he'd first met them, but he'd always wondered how he'd broken it to them that for whatever reason he couldn't fathom, he seemed unable to die. Now though, it seemed that, like everything else that ever happened around them, the information had just been dropped on them before they had any chance to examine him properly.

For the moment though they were distracted as the Doctor came barreling out of the house, seconds before it exploded into flame, blasting out the windows and flinging the front door open. As for the Doctor, he'd been knocked over by the force into the snow and was now looking up at what had been Sneed's home just moments ago. They all were, save for Rose who was looking at the Doctor as he got up, the question clear on her face: Where was Gwyneth?

And then she answered her own question "She didn't make it."

Guiltily, clearly going over what he'd said he wouldn't do in the morgue, the Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry. She closed the rift."

_Looks like she did a lot more than that. _Kaullus thought to himself as he gazed, slightly admirably, at the smoking inferno before them. _It took a while but there it is. The explosion of the day._ Then he glanced back at the survivors of their jaunt through that house and immediately quashed the mirth that was growing inside him. Regardless of them getting out of there, it came at the cost of too many; a single old man whose only crime was to drug Rose and carry her off – which incidentally started all of this – and a sweet young woman with so much life in her that it had sometimes been painful to see. Both of them gone now, snuffed out by the Gelth.

Sighing, as he noted Rose still looking at the Doctor in askance, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's not his fault." He told her gently, glancing back at the house momentarily. "Like I said, Gwyneth was already dead. Had been for quite some time too."

That got her and she spun around to face him, same questioning eyes staring at him now, "What do you mean?" She asked forcefully, not allowing for any backpedaling or rewording.

"He's right." The Doctor confirmed, his own sad tone a touch lower than Kaullus' own, "I think she was dead the moment she stood in that arch." Though he sounded a bit bewildered himself as he said it, mixed with a small level of acceptance over what he'd discovered.

It was with that same healthy dose of just accepting it that Kaullus let the matter drop himself, even if it didn't all make sense to him the chances were one day they'd figure it out. Might even get the chance to laugh over the experience with Gwyneth's descendent one day, he'd definitely live long enough to get the chance.

Nevertheless, some people can never just let things lie. "But…" Rose started, trying to get her head around what they had just told her "she can't have," she protested, "she spoke to us. She helped us – she saved us! How could she have done all that?"

_You won't get any answers from us, Rose. _Kaullus thought to himself as he dusted his coat off a bit, _If even the Doctor doesn't have an answer, you're not going to get one._

He was then proved completely wrong, when Dickens spoke up, his voice morose but at the same time subdued. "There are more things," he quoted to Rose, "in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

"Hamlet," Kaullus recited "Shakespeare, Act One Scene Five." He nodded, finding himself agreeing with those words entirely. They summed up this entire situation. "There are just some things out there that we'll never grasp, no matter how hard we try." He glanced at the one man who might possibly be exempt of that rule, but then crushed such a foolish thought, "And that includes you, Doctor." No one could know everything about the universe, no matter how often they pretended otherwise. Something, he had a feeling, that Dickens was taking to heart in a way that he never had before in his life.

But Rose was still staring up at the house, a new thought on her mind as she looked at the burning wreck. "She saved the world," she murmured, a touch of exhaustion slipping in, "a servant girl. And…" once again it looked like all her efforts were slipping out of her soul and her shoulders slumped a bit, "and no one'll ever know."

Kaullus and the Doctor both found themselves regarding her for a moment before looking back up at the flames themselves, Dickens joining them a moment later. Maybe the world wouldn't ever know of the events that transpired here on this night, this Christmas Eve in 1869, of how close it came to ending at the hands of blue ghosts inhabiting corpses in a genuine march of the dead. Maybe no one would ever ask the name of the girl who'd lived in that house that now stood in flames. Rose may be right, no one would ever know…except.

"We'll know." He pointed out. "And in the end, I think that's enough."

* * *

They made their way back down the street for the most part in silence, relying on Charles' knowledge of Cardiff – which he admitted was a bit limited – to guide them back to the theatre where this whole fiasco had begun. Rose spotted some worried people chattering to themselves, pointing in the direction of the theatre where the Gelth had interrupted Mr Dickens recital, not one of them paying the slightly scruffy party of four the slightest bit of attention. Hard to believe that all that had happened just a few hours ago, to her it felt like a lifetime since she'd been drugged by Sneed and hoisted inside his hearse with a dead woman who, half an hour later, had tried to kill her.

It miffed her slightly to see these people all so carefree and able to go about their lives when possibly the most important thing that would ever happen in their lifetime had gone by unnoticed. But then she remembered the way things had been back home when the Doctor took her back after the Earth was destroyed. Just days ago, London had been under siege by a living plastic consciousness but from the way people had acted when she'd stood among them you'd think that it had all been some amazing dream. Ignorance truly was bliss it seemed.

Where did that leave her now then? Today had been possibly one of the worst in her life, and this was just the second trip with the Doctor. He hadn't been joking when he'd said it was always dangerous – she'd nearly been killed twice in the same night – and Rose had the feeling that this was only the tip of the iceberg. Reason told her that she should seriously consider going home, back to her mum and her lacking a job, in the Powell Estate where everything was safe and made sense.

He hadn't even listened to her back there! The only reason they'd gotten out of there alive was Gwyneth, who was now dead, or had been for over five minutes before she blew up her home.

But there was still that other voice that told the rest of her to shut up, that told her more than ever now that the Doctor needed someone with him, to remind him about the little things, the people who get trampled on the way to the big picture – all those little things that make up the very same big picture. First she figured he needed someone to be with him because he was lonely, which he so very clearly was, lonelier than anyone else she'd ever met. But now she knew even better than what she'd known before.

Now she knew that there were times when even the Doctor needed to be stopped.

* * *

"So...you got stabbed in the back." He couldn't understand why Tahkaullus was wincing, the Doctor figured he'd gone into that the gentlest way that he could. But it didn't matter; this man should be dead and yet somehow here he was standing, walking, talking, and annoying. It made even less sense as, once again looking at him with all his senses turned on, he couldn't see anything wrong with him save for the incredibly long timeline that vanished into the distance and the hum of leftover restorative energy that still hung about the man like a protective layer.

Once again, it seemed like Tahkaullus knew what he was doing and he turned to glare at the Doctor. "Would you please turn those off?" He asked in annoyance, going so far as to lash an arm out at him half-heartedly "It feels like I've got a fly hovering around my head. Everything itches."

"But how, though?" The Doctor pressed on, still staring at him intently, "That should've killed you." The lack of answers was not doing anything for his temper. "How're you still here? It's literally –"

"Impossible." Tahkaullus finished for him. "Yes, yes. I've heard it before. Virtually every time I get back up someone says it. The word got kind of boring during the Dark Ages when I was hung about forty times before they gave up and just threw me into the River Trent. Though as you can see," he took a short theatrical bow, "I am still very much here."

That didn't answer any of his questions, and the red-headed headache had to know that! The Doctor was ready to get properly insistent with his questions, when Tahkaullus sighed and pinched his brow. "Look, even I don't know how I can do it, okay?" He stated bluntly, "All I know is that, ever since I was a child, whenever a really serious injury was done to me, this gold energy starts thumping in my veins and before I know it whatever damage was done was knit closed again." The whole thing seemed to be funny to him as he had the audacity to laugh. "It proved to be quite a pain during my more suicidal years. Oh don't look at me like that!" He pointed at the Doctor, indicating his stunned expression, "You think you're the only one who's considered ending it? I actually followed through! And yet here I am."

His story left the Doctor speechless – a man who couldn't be killed, who had to simply live out his lifespan no matter how long that life may be. That sounded lonely…incredibly lonely…and he feared the answer to his next question, but the scientist in him had to know. "How old are you?"

Tahkaullus regarded him for a moment, his eyes suddenly looking incredibly old, before answering. "I first met you during the last Roman invasion of Britannia before the empire fell and…"

"You're nearly _two thousand?"_ The Doctor exclaimed, garnering the attention of Charles and Rose who were a couple of steps ahead of them. Rose was now staring at Tahkaullus in horror – not of him, the Doctor recognised, but for him – how could a man live so long?

But he just raised his hand for the Doctor to hush, as well as silencing any other questions from the others, indicating for them to keep walking. "Let me finish," he requested, "as I said, I first met you during the last Roman invasion of Britannia…" here he paused, sucking in a breath, as if knowing what he said next was going to truly terrify the Doctor. He was right.

"By that time," Tahkaullus told him, "I was already thirteen thousand years old, and I had hit rock bottom."

_Fifteen thousand…_The Doctor faltered, trying to get his head around the number. _This man is fifteen _thousand _years old?! _Not even the oldest Time Lord had lived that long! Their oldest had been one who lived into their twelve thousands…but not much further than that. "But…" he faltered, unable to get his mouth to work properly, "but how can you be…? I mean…you couldn't have…" but his words failed him.

In the end it returned to one simple question: "Who are you?"

And then Tahkaullus looked incredibly pained as he looked away from the Doctor. "That's something I can't tell you." He told him, and there was genuine regret in his tone as he told him that, "You're just going to have to find that out by yourself. Maybe you'll find answers that even I don't have."

Leaving him with that little puzzle, Tahkaullus sped up his pace and caught up with Rose and Charles.

* * *

At last the morose walk came to an end as the Doctor took the lead, recognising the path they were taking. Kaullus and Dickens backed up, the former ushering Rose along. They arrived in the back alley, the TARDIS sat there, big and blue, looking a bit worn…in fact the most worn that Kaullus had ever seen her, but still the same old girl.

'_Hello there.' _He reached out to her, and smiled contentedly as he felt her resounding hum in his mind, filled with welcome and acceptance. Something that had been very lacking this evening. _'I guess you would be the only one to really know me, wouldn't you?' _There was what he could only describe as a bit of a girlish giggle inside his head and he rolled his eyes. _'_

_Just make sure that they don't cause anything major and you can do whatever you like to them afterwards.' _If he didn't know the TARDIS better, he could've sworn the next message she sent back to him was her own deviousness. Oh he knew she could throw the Doctor off sometimes, but never intentionally…right? Then again, this was the same time ship that, in her words, stole a Time Lord and ran away, so what did he know?

_'Don't cause too much trouble okay? Just send them to Jackie Tyler or something. I've heard enough horror stories, from both of them, to know that she ought to give 'em what for over all this.'_ He heard a little tinkle in his head and suddenly shuddered. Did the TARDIS just give him her version of a salute?

"Right then, Charley-boy," the Doctor's uncertain, slightly awkward tone pulled Kaullus out of his chat with the TARDIS. He should've known the Time Lord would have trouble saying goodbye in any body, especially to one of his icons. The Doctor was looking back and forth between Dickens and the box. "I've just got to go into my…er…shed." He settled on at last, fitting the key into the door's lock, "Won't be long.

_A shed? _He fought the urge to chortle, _that's the best he could come up with? _Glancing back up at the TARDIS, he linked back up with her. _'Seriously, I think he needs a dose of Jackie Tyler just for that!'_ The very offended feelings he got in return told him that she was seriously considering it.

The rest of the party was completely oblivious though as Rose stepped away from the Doctor to talk to Dickens. "What're you gonna do now then?" She asked him, the starts of a smile returning to her lips.

For Dickens, that smile was already there as he exposited. "I shall take the mail coach back to London." He chortled a bit, "quite literally post-haste. This is no time for one to be on his own. I shall spend Christmas with my dear Nell and my children and make amends to them!" A look of sheer contentment seemed to pass through his entire being as he talked, and he looked, quite frankly, younger than he'd seemed all night. "After all I've learned tonight, I believe the comfort of a family could never be more vital."

_Damn right it's vital. _Kaullus agreed silently, smiling proudly at the man who, over an hour ago, he'd wanted to clobber for his closed-mindedness.

The Doctor himself was grinning as he stepped away from the TARDIS to stand behind Rose. "Looks like someone cheered up! Eh, old Scrooge?"

"Exceedingly!" The aging author replied, bursting out into laughter as his whole night caught up with him, "This morning, I woke up thinking I knew everything in the world and now I know I just started! All these wonderful notions!" If ever there was a device that powered appliances by joy, the thousand watt grin on Charles Dickens' face as he talked could have powered the whole street. "I'm inspired!" He exclaimed, "I must write about them!"

_Ah…_well he hadn't expected that, and going from the look Rose had, she was just as concerned. "D'you think that's wise?" She asked him. "I mean, it sounds mad to me and I saw it happen."

"Oh it shall be subtle hints, at first," Dickens waved her concerns off, still incredibly happy with himself, before a considering look crossed his face, "I have been penning a new tale for my magazine, _The Mystery of Edwin Drood, _and yet I confess I felt that I had nothing new to tell. But now," and here he seemed to be delving into his story, rewriting it in front of them… "I had intended it to be a murder of a nephew by his uncle, but what if…the killer was not his uncle at all? What if the uncle had also been killed? And the killer itself was not of this Earth?"

"_The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Ghosts from Outer Space?" _Kaullus asked, grinning at the title. "I know you like long titles, but that's not exactly endearing."

"Oh, pish!" Dickens returned good naturedly, "Nothing so bland and unimaginative as that! _The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals." _He smiled at his own creativity, "I can spread the word monthly, tell the truth!"

"Good luck with it then," the Doctor said, though his words seemed to lack confidence even as he shook the man's hand, "Nice to meet you. Fantastic." A bit of an odd way to finish his sentencing but then, Kaullus reasoned, the Doctor was a bit of an odd man.

Then it was Rose's turn, "Bye then, and thanks." She finished by planting a peck on his cheek, which caused the man to blush something fierce.

"Oh my…" he found himself stuttering. "How modern."

"Nah." Kaullus disagreed, shaking his head, though his eyes were filled with mirth. "That's just Rose." _You should see what happens when the Doctor gets a full one. _He couldn't help thinking. _Poor man usually can't think for hours after that! _

Then Rose turned to him, and he immediately clammed up. _Please don't say anything._ He begged her with his eyes. If she did, he didn't know how much he could keep to himself about what was to come for both of them. But she seemed to be having the same trouble getting words out, suddenly wringing her hands, trying to find somewhere to start.

At last she did. "Look…" she began, "about that thing…in the kitchen. If…"

"Forget it." He told her quickly, too much so as it drew both the Doctor and Dickens' attention to him now. "Everything about tonight…just forget it. It's my own fault really." And he laughed a bit self-deprecatingly. "I should've known a day would come when you wouldn't recognise me, logic demands that it had to happen one day. But I…" And now he was trailing off as words failed him. He knew exactly why he hadn't prepared himself, always had known. But he couldn't say it, because now they very well should know him. The next time he saw them, they would know him, or so he hoped.

So he stayed silent, just giving her a strained smile, and nodded her back towards the Doctor. The man in question nodded to him, a silent acknowledgement between them, which he responded to with a nod of his own. This Doctor didn't do handshakes or hugs, and so he wouldn't impose himself.

Reluctantly, Rose backed away from him and re-joined the Doctor. "Well then…" she tried for levity, "see you next time?"

He just shrugged, "If I'm lucky."

"But I confess, I don't quite understand," Dickens' question was welcomed by all as they turned to face him, "in what way is this goodbye?" He asked the Doctor, "Where are you going?"

"You'll see," The Doctor assured him, opening the TARDIS door and stepping inside "in the shed."

"She really doesn't like being called that." Kaullus couldn't help pointing out, which went completely ignored. _'Seriously needs a Tyler Slap now.' _The TARDIS sent back her immediate agreement.

Again though, Dickens called him back, "Upon my soul," he exhaled, a mix of awe and exasperation, "it's one riddle after another with you. Yet after all these revelations tonight, there's still one mystery you've yet to resolve." And here, he let his true bafflement of the three of them show through, a sort of dazedness that Kaullus could remember feeling himself the first time he'd run into them and asked the very same thing Dickens was doubtless about to ask, "Answer me this – who are you? Who are any of you?"

For a moment, they all paused, each of them wondering how to answer that question. Kaullus was unsure on how to go about himself, and he suspected the Doctor would now want to get out of here as fast as possible. Rose just seemed a bit apprehensive…which ironically made her the calmest of the three of them right now.

The Doctor finally settled on a neutral answer. "Just a friend" he told Dickens, still smiling "passing through."

On his reply, Dickens quickly latched on, "But you have such knowledge of future times." He insisted, a look of sheer need flickering by, "I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you: My books. Doctor – do they last?"

Kaullus' first instinct was to take, what he decreed, the 'River Song' route and yell 'Spoilers!' as loudly and as far reaching as he could. However, it also seemed that this Doctor had no knowledge of keeping things on track as he suddenly beamed with unmarred adoration for the man before him and replied with a loud "Oh yes!"

And then Dickens compiled on this answer as well, asking him straight out, "For how long?"

_No…don't you tell him! I don't care if you're his number one fan! I don't care if you have the keys to the Charles Dickens club house! I don't care if you've read every book! I don't care if you have fantasies of submitting a piece of work to him and hearing him say it's the best he's ever read! You DO NOT GIVE AWAY PERSONAL TIMELINES!_

"Forever."

_DOES THIS MAN KNOW NOTHING OF THE WORD 'SPOILERS?!' _

This rant was completely silent and within his own mind. But it was here, at this exact moment, that Tahkaullus Neuvo decreed that he would one day punch the living daylights out of this Doctor. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in the next decade, but one day, this Doctor was going to find himself missing a couple of front teeth! The rest of them paid his silent vow no heed, the Doctor and Rose smiling pleasantly at Dickens, who was trying his best to look pleased and modest at the same time.

"Right…shed." Deciding his work was done, the Doctor finally stepped inside, ignoring the irritated rumble the TARDIS sent his way. "Come on Rose." At his call, Rose followed him, though she glanced back at Kaullus one more time. He cut off his rant just enough to give her a short smile and a nod in the Doctor's direction.

Now though, Victorian propriety reared its head in Dickens and he made to step forward when Rose began to follow the Doctor inside. "In…in the box?" He asked, staring at how small the TARDIS appeared to be, and then looked back at Rose's decidedly risqué choice of dress. "Both of you?"

The Doctor just rolled his eyes, "Down boy!" He chastised, before popping himself inside properly. "See ya!" Rose quickly followed him and shut the door behind her.

For a moment the remaining pair just stared at the box, Kaullus with his hands in his pockets, waiting expectantly. _'Remember, old girl. Jackie Tyler. Now' _The TARDIS sent her version of a salute his way again and then their link went quiet.

Dickens turned to him, confusion still clear, "I still don't understand." He whispered to him, glancing at the TARDIS, as if waiting for all manner of things to be heard coming from the other side any second. "What exactly is he getting out of that box?"

He glanced at Dickens and smirked. "Just wait and see, Charles." He said softly. "Just wait and see."

And they didn't have to wait long. A few moments later the grinding whirrs of the TARDIS engines started up and she began to fade from sight. The engines lasted a bit longer before drifting away along with the TARDIS itself, the fallen snow upon it left to drift down to the ground.

Smiling fondly at the Doctor's idea of a surprise for his favourite author, Kaullus turned around to see the man in question heading back down the alley and into town, laughing his head off. Quietly he followed Charles Dickens from a distance as he bid several people a merry Christmas before going on his way and uttering the last words of one of his more noted books. And though Tahkaullus Neuvo wasn't a religious man by nature – he'd seen too much of the Catholics and the Protestants to ever trust either – he couldn't find it in him to find a better way to sum up the events of the night. The world had nearly ended…again, the Doctor and Rose had come to call…and hadn't recognised him, they'd met Charles Dickens…who'd just lived his own Christmas Carol, and they had blown stuff up. And somehow they'd all survived it.

So yes, he agreed wholeheartedly with Charles Dickens as he wandered away merrily, gazing at the stars. "God bless us, everyone."

* * *

**A/N: **And there we go, 'Unquiet Dead' is officially wrapped up. I can now move onto the Slitheen! Whoo! Aliens in zip suits, the Jackie Tyler Inquisition, and the Tyler Slap! And, for those of you who wanted it, the vaunted Kaullus Punch! That's right! Your patience has paid off! Kaullus is gonna deck the Doctor in the next episode, I can assure you. And it's gonna be felt throughout the timelines.  
Anyone else hate me for doing what I did to Kaullus? Yes? Thought so. Ah well, can't please everyone I guess. And what do you think of him being fifteen thousand years old? What the hell was he doing for the rest of the time? What's this Purge I mentioned a chapter back? Why am I rambling on instead of working on the next chapter?! I don't know the answer to that last one but I have answers to the others! And you must wait for them! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!  
Seriously though, the poll's still up. VOTE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! 'Dalek' is inching ever closer!


	14. Oops

**A/N: **Last time on From the Pandorica to Utopia! The Doctor and Rose went to Naples in 1860..except it was 1869...and Cardiff...whoops. Kaullus showed up again and got in Rose's personal space - by that I mean he hugged her - which she didn't respond to. Kaullus is sad, very sad, that they don't seem to recognise him, but covers up pretty well. They see ghosts, zombies, and Charles Dickens who's a bit of a Scrooge but at the end we like him! Woohoo! And they meet this strange girl who can see the past and future because she lived on a rift in time and space...wonder what they'd sell that place for? Doesn't matter 'cos to stop them, strange girl blows up her house and herself with it. That's one way to avoid payment tax I guess. Everyone's a bit sad, and its revealed Tahkaullus is fifteen thousand years old...bloody hell how is he still sane?!  
And so they go off in their big blue box again, after Kaullus decides that they need a dose of Jackie Tyler after the evening he's had.  
So you know what's going to happen next don't you! We're of to see the Mother! The scary mother of Rose!  
Right then.  
Disclaimer! Don't own Doctor Who. If I did, then Kaullus would be in it, Doomsday wouldn't have ever happened, or alternatively Journey's End would have a satisfying conclusion, Ten wouldn't have been a suicidal wreck by the end of his life, and I wouldn't be crying every time I see that ruddy beach!  
I do own this story. I do own Tahkaullus Neuvo, the Underworld, the Elite Corps and everything else that isn't Doctor Who related. Anyone who tries to take that away from me will be EX-TER-MIN-ATE-ED!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Oops…**

_Five o' clock…_

Kaullus pinched his nose again, wiping away the grainy sleep in his eyes, nearly blinding himself in the process, before hurriedly putting his sunglasses back on. Would someone please tell him why, in the name of the seven Gods of the Gerinalta clans, was he up and staring at blazing white screens with information on them that had all bled into each other, at five o' clock, Greenwich meantime, _in the bloody morning?!_ His whole body was aching for sleep that was being constantly denied him as new reports the world over came flooding into the Eye installation of the Elite Corps barracks in the London Underworld.

It had all started a few days ago when they'd finally made their move regarding to the Underworld's deep space program. Over thirty years ago, NASA had launched their then-state-of-the-art space probe Pioneer 10 into space in correspondence with the Goddard Space Flight Centre's proposal to send a probe up to collect subliminal data on the asteroid belt and then go on to visit Jupiter. What the techies in America had been completely unaware of though was that the Underworld had been listening in and making plans of their own. One thing, their military division had noted time and again, alien incursion after alien incursion, was the planet's lack of some form of early warning system that could at least make them aware of an incoming possible threat to their world. Clearly the surfacers weren't going to do anything about it, despite UNIT doing their best to keep things orderly – that institution had gone to the dogs once Lethbridge Stewart resigned – for good this time, he'd insisted – so it fell to the Underworld to devise their own strategy to keep tabs on the wellbeing of planet Earth from space. Their answer came in the Jupiter Probe proposal.

Sending in their best science-and-engineering infiltration units, they had taken the probe designated Pioneer F and gone over the schematics as well as its response range. After a few quick calculations they concluded that, once launched, it would eventually fall out of contact with NASA at some point early on in the new millennium. Once that had been concluded, they set about adding on their own bits to the Pioneer probe – communications arrays small enough to go unnoticed, additional thrust controls which the Underworld ground team would be able to control on Earth, and, most important of all, a stop command that would be transmitted once it was reported that NASA had finally given up on their little Jupiter Probe.

Something that had finally happened a few weeks prior, the Eye in Florida had received reports from the moles in NASA that Pioneer 10 was now considered unreachable by the surfacers' ground teams. Two hours later the stop command was initiated in the UWSA headquarters in St Helena, bringing the probe to a halt eighty-nine astronomical units away from Earth. From that position, the Pioneer activated its hidden sensor arrays, transmitting both inwards towards the planet and outwards into space.

When they got the first ping back from their new warning system, the ground crew had been jubilant, flying flags, patting each other on the back and just all around considering their thirty year wait well spent. Everyone was all set to go down to the nearest pub, let the next team take over for the night…until one attentive worker spotted something unusual in their readings. From that point on the evening had grown tense as every worker checked their posts, reread their reports, they even contacted the technicians who installed the technology on the probe more than three decades ago just to make sure that there was nothing wrong, hoping desperately that there was. Because if what Pioneer was showing them was true, then they had visitors on the planet already.

There had been nothing wrong, and soon every Eye in every city of the Underworld was corresponding, sending and receiving information from each other as they tried to pin down what Pioneer had detected. It was subtle, just a blip. Like an aftershock of an explosion…or the afterburners of an engine. The fact that it was so hard to trace indicated something very alarming: The signal was degrading, which meant that whatever they were looking for had been here for quite some time doing who knows what on the planet.

The Committee had gotten so worried that they'd pressed for an emergency sanction – placing all of the Underworld's military divisions, Elite Corps included, on yellow alert, ready to move into mauve at a second's notice. Kaullus had violently contested this decision but the terrified representatives of the Underworld's species were strictly set in their decision and wouldn't be budged, forcing him to abandon his own observation area – the Powell Estate – and return to London to supervise a full sweep of the entire city. A job that was incredibly taxing, on him and the Eye operatives who were also groaning in exhaustion around him.

And if matters weren't bad enough, three days ago, when they'd finally managed to narrow down the search to the North Sea the damn trace just vanished, as if it had never been there in the first place! Pioneer wasn't picking up any energy emissions and no one still out in the field could say they'd seen or heard anything of note.

Piling up on all that: The Doctor was still MIA, and so was Rose – it was the twenty-seventh of March, 2006, and there had been no sign of them. Just a brief glimpse of them in the city, standing around before going down to a local chippie before disappearing off the face of the Earth. Jackie was going stir crazy, putting up missing posters, going to the police eight times – five of which Mickey was hauled in for questioning. Poor boy couldn't even answer any of the important questions like where he'd last seen her, what had they been doing, had there been any altercations between them in the last few weeks. That last one got a rise out of him, nearly giving his interrogators something to go on before an infiltrator stepped in, saving his bacon.

_Guess that's one good reason to keep infiltrating the world's organisations. _Kaullus thought to himself ruefully, downing his forth cuppa that morning. The heat did him some good, but all he was drinking was tea. If he was going to really want to wake up he was going to have to get himself a coffee. But then he'd be hyper for the rest of the morning and he didn't want to cause his poor staff any more pain.

Sighing again, he rubbed his eyes a bit before clearing his throat. He hated to do this to them but at least it would be quick. "Okay," He said briskly, wincing as he saw and heard them all snarl in frustration, "let's get this over with quickly and then we can all take a nap. Jacob! The latest balance figures on the British Loans Funds?"

"Assets are at Eighty-three thousand million, Net Liabilities look to be pushing four-hundred-and-eighty million." Jacob's scaly head looked up at him, all four red eyes pleading him not to go further.

He couldn't afford that though, however he lowered his tone and asked simply, "Cashflow?"

The man's head slammed back onto his desk, moaning quietly before sighing and looking back up, "Net cashflow is at thirteen thousand million. Now can I please go to sleep?"

Kaullus smiled gently and nodded at the exit. Before the operator had even gotten out of his chair, he was back to it. "Dex! How're things up at MI5?"

"Odd." Was the one worded reply.

"Elaborate."

"Well, Margaret Blaine showed up, saying something about requiring access to the Prime Minister."

That was odd, MI5 dealt in information regarding exterior events, not interior. "I thought MI6 handled protection of the persons in government?"

"Not her it seems." Dex replied, shrugging a little, "Shame really, this is gonna ruin her career. If I was a surfacer, I'd vote her in as Lord Mayor for Cardi…what the hell?!"

"What's wrong?" He stepped away from the centre and knelt down beside the operator.

"They just gave her clearance." He leaned back in his chair, a look of complete bamboozlement on his face as he turned to Kaullus, "You think this could be connected to the you-know-what?" The signal that Pioneer had picked up was now taboo to speak. Too many people were tired to properly think straight.

In response, Kaullus just shrugged, "Send the information over to Shadow, he'll need to know to watch out for her if she shows up." Elite Corps Agent Designation Shadow was their plant in 10 Downing Street, his job simple and easy: Shadow the cabinet meetings, report on all their activities and nothing more. A job he'd been doing rather well now for the past eight months – his first mission on his own.

Anyway, Dex nodded back to him before patching his comm systems into Shadow's frequency. Knowing that he'd be gone by the time he looked back around, Kaullus got back to work. "Jess! Are the Russians behaving yet?"

"Nope," she replied faux-cheerfully, "intel from the Eye in Russia says there's been no change in their attitude. Ukraine still has no gas power." She sniffed a bit in disdain, "Bunch of greedy bastards, the lot of them. What do they even do all day anyway?"

"Got me." Kaullus hadn't been back to Russia since he slipped the plans of the nuclear bomb to the Soviet Union, which incidentally kicked off the Cold War. That…hadn't been one of his shining moments, it has to be said, but it did serve to get the surfacers to look the other way whilst the Underworld worked on getting a better presence in Australia. "Well enough about that," he shook off the thoughts of the Cuban Missile Crisis and returned to business "Jax! What's going on with our lovely armed forces?"

"General Asquith's been called into London on some odd matter," he replied, "probably because they _finally _picked up our dear depressant."

"Took them long enough." Was all he said in reply with a snort for good measure. Though he generally liked the man, Asquith wasn't exactly the sort of person you wanted running a country. He was a soldier, born and bred to be sure…but he wasn't a leader. Granted Blair wasn't exactly doing any better these days but at least he started out good…sort of…if you liked the Labour Party. That David Cameron bloke though…they might have to watch him.

Nevertheless, he got back to work, calling the operators by name and getting their various reports. After they had told him everything they could, or just given him the basic rundown of what they had, he let them go. It went on like this for a little while longer until it was just him and Nina again. Feeling there was no need for him to shout, Kaullus wandered over and sat down beside her. "Still nothing, I'm guessing?"

"Not so much as a leather jacket or a pink hoodie." She muttered back, pushing back and visibly fighting the urge to rub her eyes.

Rubbing her back in understanding and apology, Kaullus leaned over and turned off her screen. "You've been putting in a lot of hours lately." He noted, a bit of his concern over her slipping into his tone. "Longer than most of the others with this job."

He could've sworn he detected a blush there but said nothing of it as she quickly recovered, "I just want to make sure they didn't miss anything." She claimed, gathering a few discarded possessions of hers which she tucked into a pocket on her jacket. "They are your friends after all."

"So are you." Ah, there it was again, that timid little blush on a woman that he knew for a fact didn't play for his team. Chuckling a little bit, and admittedly feeling a bit chuffed, Kaullus led her towards the exit, "Go home Nina, get some sleep, have some fun with Kathrin." The squeak at the mention of her girlfriend nearly had him laughing, "And no more of these late nights until you're good and rested."

They stepped out of the Eye together, the door, which now had an Eye of Providence painted on it, shutting behind them. Looking at it, Kaullus winced a bit. "Whose idea was it to use a Christian symbol this time?"

"I think it was Phil," Nina responded, looking at the eye herself "down in robotics." She shrugged a bit, not all that bothered. "Why? Don't you like it?"

"You know my stance on Christians." He reminded her as they walked through the barracks together.

She sighed in response, "Are you ever going to forgive the Catholic Church for the Crusades?"

"Are you saying I've forgiven the Protestants for Cromwell?" He returned.

Nina didn't bother to give him an answer, likely knowing that there was nothing she could say to change his mind about the Christian religion. But then did she expect him to? Christianity had been one of the things that had spurred the Underworld project onwards – being discovered by those zealot puritans would have meant death for all of them – responsible for the hardening of their hearts that had only just recently begun to soften again. Before that there had been the Crusades, and Kaullus didn't care what anyone said or tried to justify them as, they had been bloodbaths – simply because the people they were killing didn't worship the same god…or rather, they worshipped a similar god that wasn't theirs. And don't even get him started on the Spanish Inquisition, he'd seen that for what it really was and had been appalled, had seriously considered waging a one man war on the Vatican for that until he met the Priory of Scion. After that he limited his actions to just the Inquisitors.

So basically, he didn't like the church, would never like the church, and was very careful when it came to ferrying Christian refugees to the Underworld.

As for Nina, she just went along with it. She didn't have any sort of religion, but wasn't one to persecute those with a certain faith. He liked that about her. It sort of reminded him of Rose…Rose who was still missing.

Sighing, knowing that, now that he was thinking about it, he wouldn't be able to stop, he halted at a corner. Noting that he'd stopped, Nina turned around and looked at him quizzically. He just pointed down the corridor on his right. "I'm gonna take a spin." He told her shortly.

"Are you joking?" She scoffed walking back up to him, "You can hardly stand upright, all you've had is tea!"

But he just waved her off unconcerned, "I've been in road accidents before," he reminded her, yawning a little bit, "this'll be nothing new. Besides, I'll be taking my Aston, you know what that means."

Rolling her eyes at him, she just nodded as she realised exactly what that meant. "Of course," she muttered in exasperation, "your on-board coffee station. Who did you pay to install that?"

"You know money has no value here, Nina."

"Then how the hell did you get your own coffee blender, that actually makes coffee," she asked, growing a bit annoyed with him as her own tiredness began to show, "as well as a fully automated massage system in that car of yours?!"

He just laughed again, rolling his shoulders a bit to get the blood pumping again, "It's a matter of luck, Nin'" he told her, affecting an air of snobbishness as he went on, "and also, my dear, when it comes to you and me, I have a certain advantage that all of us men have over young ladies like yourself."

"Oh yes?" She asked back, hands on hips, looking up at him sharply, "And what might that be?"

"Charm." Kaullus went so far as to give her a very slight bow, along with an airy flourish, all the while keeping his superior smirk in place that so infuriated many a person. The Doctor wasn't the only one it worked on after all.

But when it came to people who'd known him long enough, like an Elite, or weirdly enough the Doctor as well when they got the timelines right, or an Underworld Eye Operative, they just scoffed and went about their business. This is what Nina did, with an added eye-roll, and she turned her back on him and walked off, muttering under her breath about 'bosses with egos too big the barracks to house.' Smiling after her, Kaullus called out, "Say hi to Kat for me!"

She just flipped him the bird.

Now properly laughing, he walked off down the corridor towards Ground Tactical Resources. Weapons testing was still as noisy as ever (they'd come across a fault in their Dalek weaponry remodifications – now all the damn thing did was fry anything within a five metre radius), experimental designs however was steaming along (the Sontaran armour weave they'd extracted from a downed ship a few months back had pushed their new infantry armour designs forward) and quantum defence was still its hectic self (they were still unsure if developing something that created a paradox on demand was a good idea and were now looking into alternate methods). So basically another day at the office for that lot. They were about the only people not running ragged thanks to Pioneer's discovery.

The Aston was there waiting for him, just having got herself refitted to include a new Nitros system that was being installed on all vehicles. Despite the name, it didn't use a Nitrogen-oxide engine boost. That would just be dull and unimaginative. What it did do was create a temporary subspace field around the object, controlled by nano-computers built into the body of the vehicle that allowed it to enter a sort of warp speed. Sadly however the drive didn't take the object out of the established plain of existence, it just speed things up a bit; as such any driver would require super-human skills to use it and not crash their vehicle into a wall that previously they wouldn't have turned away from for at least another few minutes. Thankfully, any standard Underworld vehicle had this wonderful little thing called autopilot.

Once he was over his usual little bit of appreciative admiring of his rebuilt baby, Kaullus set about the usual exit protocols; name, designation, rank etcetera. When he was given the green light, he hit the throttle and blasted his way out of the Underworld and onto what everyone now liked to call the UH1, destination set for the Powell Estate.

Putting on the autopilot, Kaullus then proceeded to take care of the most important bit of the day. He pressed a switch on the dashboard and the passenger seat retracted back, folding up and away to admit room for, just as Nina had said, his own personal coffee station. Reserved only to use in emergencies, he'd only ever had to use it once: The day after he realised that Rose and the Doctor hadn't been seen for over a month…there was a spit take if ever there was one.

_Ah there we go. _He smiled to himself contently as the small plastic cup was filled with what had better be espresso coffee, and then got itself topped with a thin layer of foamy milk. _Cappuccino, the only way to wake up a groggy immortal._

There was a part of him though, that was really hoping that the Doctor and Rose would turn up soon. Why? Because it meant Jackie Tyler would go to town on the big-eared bastard. The man may be impressive, but he had to admit it was nice to watch him taken down a peg or two every once in a while, especially the latest one he'd run into, with his sulking that was played over with arrogance, and not to mention his superiority complex the size of a planet! If he didn't know that the Doctor was so scared of Rose's mother, Kaullus would be tempted to take the man down himself…

_No wait,_ He corrected himself as he gulped down his coffee,_ screw that_. He was _going _to take that man down a peg the next time he saw him. Twelve months without a single pop in, from either of them? He'd had to go in twice because he had, admittedly, been caught skulking around the Estate. It was easy enough to get out of though, calling himself Special Detective Thomas Hylan, inspecting the disappearance of her daughter, but that wasn't the problem. It was the Tyler Inquisition. How did she do it?! All those questions and not stopping once! Oh the Doctor deserved whatever he got when they decided to show up.

So when the Aston's built in BB Alarm setting went off, his half-drank coffee nearly found itself all over the dashboard.

* * *

And they were…there!

"Right," The Doctor said proudly, grinning over at Rose on the other side of the console, "here it is, Powell Estate, London, England, Earth and its March the twenty-seventh." He stepped away from the scanner and folded his arms. No could've done it better. There was no one _to _do it better. And yet the sceptical look on her face had his smiled wilting away until it was a frown. "What?"

"Naples, you said." She reminded him.

"Oi!" He snapped, blimey this one was cheeky. "You don't believe me, have a look out there." He pointed at the police box doors, daring her to prove him wrong. And he wasn't wrong, it was right this time. Of course it was right! He'd made this trip a thousand and two times! A thousand and three now.

She was still giving him that disbelieving eye though as she walked past him, and not the good one, not the _oh-my-god-how-the-hell-am-I-here _one. It was the other one, the one he didn't like because it meant that he'd screwed up one too many times. The one Susan used to give him when he blundered on his words around Ian and Barbara before he'd left her behind. That look, the _just-remember-you've-done-it-before-and-I-still-remember-it _look, he could do without.

And so he was pleased to hear an astonished, and at the same time pleased, gasp from Rose as she took in her surroundings. Grinning in satisfaction again, the Doctor ambled his way down the ramp and out the TARDIS' door, closing it behind him and leaning against it. The Powell Estate, in all its blocky, dreary, boring, not able to fly across the stars, magnificence, lay out before them and Rose was taking it all in. How odd was that? Taking in something that you'd seen all your life?

Seemingly pleased to see familiar surroundings, Rose turned back to him quickly, "How long've I been gone?" She asked him cautiously.

A quick check of his watch later, he replied easily, "About twelve hours…give or take a few minutes."

She gave him that patented stunned look again before suddenly bursting out laughing, the whole bizarreness of this life coming full circle. Thinking about it, it was pretty funny and he indulged himself in a bit of a chuckle himself. To the year five billion and back for chips, then all the way to 1869 with Charles Dickens, ghosts and that persistent bugger who kept showing up. Fantastic!

Once she'd calmed down, Rose turned off in the direction of a set of flats he remembered wandering up and down looking for a plastic hand. "Right!" She told him, "Won't be long, just gonna check on my mum."

Frowning curiously, he asked "What're you gonna tell her?"

She stopped and looked back at him, looking as if she hadn't thought that over herself, "I dunno…that I've just been off to the year five billion and was only gone, what, twelve hours?" Well when she put it like that it did sound rather odd.

_Humans, _he thought to himself, snorting a bit,_ always assuming time has to go just one way. They wouldn't have lasted a day in the academy._

Rose was scoffing too, though for different reasons and just started off again, "No, I'll just tell her I spent the night at Shireen's. See you later. Oh!" Turning back, but still walking backwards towards the flats, she pointed a finger at him, "Don't you disappear." She told him, sort-of-sternly but not quite making it.

He just humoured her with a smile and turned back to rest against his brilliant blue box. As if he'd just up and swan of like some insensitive teenager, Time Lord's didn't do insensitive. Though quite frankly he wasn't exactly sure why he was bothering taking her back to her mother's. The TARDIS had more than enough clothes to sate her girly pleasure until the end of time, though where it had picked them all up over the years still baffled him. Surely he hadn't had that many people travelling with him as to stock that many clothes…had he? Nine hundred years of phone box travel, he was bound to forget a few things. But still, where had it all come from? You'd think the TARDIS had gone on its own shopping spree when he hadn't been looking!

Still, she'd insisted, and for some reason he'd complied. So here he stood while she ran off to chat with her mother about outlandish things such as gossip mags and Eastenders. How incredibly exciting! The normal day life of March twenty-seventh! Ooh, the drama!

_Come on! What's takin' her? _He checked his watch, _Bloody heck, she's been gone five minutes! Five minutes that could be spent exploring moons two galaxies over, or running up and down space stations. _He impatiently kicked a nearby scrap of litter, he didn't see what – an empty water bottle? – and looked for something that he could fiddle with. Somewhere about, he could make out the faint sound of a car engine but blocked it out, probably some sad bloke who'd gotten up late and was just getting out to work.

_Ah! There she is! _No wait that wasn't her; wasn't even in the right direction either, now that he thought about it, the flat was the other way, behind him. _No wait, she's there! _No just a wall again…and another wall…and more walls. Finally having enough of all the multiple Roses wandering about, the Doctor made his way over to the first thing that he thought had been Rose. _She wasn't a model was she? _No, she'd been working at a shop, a clothes shop. So why so many takes of her? Fed-up-ness replaced by curiosity, the Doctor only got halfway there before he was stopped in the loudest and noisiest possible way.

The car engine he'd heard had gotten louder and, if the Doctor had been paying attention, he would've noticed that the sound had been heading towards the estate rather than away from it towards the city. Before he got to the picture of Rose, a sleek black Aston Martin suddenly blasted into the courtyard, nearly running him over as it drove straight towards him. The Doctor leapt away just in time, pressing himself against the TARDIS as the car came to a halt between him and the picture.

On the far side of the car, the door was pushed open by whatever mad man was driving…

And the Doctor let out a suppressed groan as his eyes were greeted with red hair and black leather as Tahkaullus Neuvo stepped out onto the courtyard, slamming the door behind him. For the moment though he seemed to be ignoring him as he too went to inspect the piece of paper that was flopping over and tore it off the wall it had been stuck to.

Irritation at having run into this man, _again,_ building up in him, the Doctor couldn't help commenting. "You going to start your usual thing then, Mr Poet?" The man's long ears pricked up, as if just realising that he wasn't alone, and Tahkaullus turned to stare at him. "Finally notice me then?" He asked, frankly a bit annoyed that the man had just tried to flatten him with his big and impressive car. Tahkaullus might say he wasn't human but he certainly acted like it, always going for the flashiest thing he could afford, anything to look cool.

But Tahkaullus hadn't answered, in fact he hadn't said a word. The moment he saw the Doctor, it was as if he'd gone mute, which was a nice change from the way that he usually adored butting in with his unwanted bits of information that he could've gotten by himself. In silence, he walked around his Aston, not once taking his eyes off the Doctor, until he stood right in front of him. Folding up the piece of paper he'd nicked, he stuck it inside his pocket.

The event that took place in the next few moments is talked about in space bars amongst the seedy and the greedy in twelve different galaxies, and even a universe over. It was so significant that when Dorium Maldovar was cornered by the Silence, he warned Madame Kovarian of what Tahkaullus would do to her, once the Doctor was through with her, first.

At last, the Doctor got fed up with the silent treatment. "Well?" He asked, "Are you gonna say anything or do I have to sta-?"

And then it happened. Tahkaullus balled his left hand into a fist, pulled back, and let fly right into the Doctor's right cheek. The crack that reverberated from that collision of flesh and bone is said to have been felt by telepathic races four million light-years away as the Doctor's mind let out a roar of pain. There had been so much force behind that blow that he was sent flying backwards, through the TARDIS's unlocked doors, landing sprawled on the grating. For a moment he just lay there, completely dazed and uncomprehending what just happened…someone had punched him. _Tahkaullus _had gone and punched him right in the face! His mind was still trying to come to terms with that as the man in question came storming into the TARDIS, leather duster billowing out behind him, giving him a bit of a demonic appearance when the green glow of the TARDIS was added into the equation.

Before the Doctor could get back to his feet, which he found were still rebelling against the idea of being anywhere near useful, and demand an explanation as to what just happened, Tahkaullus shouted, seemingly making the whole ship quiver "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

"Wha'?" Still a bit mussed up, the Doctor was barely sitting up when something was thrust into his chest. Looking down, he saw it was the piece of paper that he'd torn off the wall and pocketed. He looked up at Tahkaullus in askance, but he just glared at him and indicated the paper. Not knowing what the hell he was on about, the Doctor rolled his eyes, wincing as the eyeball touched the bruised muscle around his cheek – gods that was going to leave a mark! What did he do in his spare time? Weight-lift bulls? – and unfolded the paper. After a cursory glance over at what he had in front of him, the Doctor's eyebrows lifted away from his eyes and tried to make contact with his hairline, whilst his jaw dropped flat open.

_That can't be right!_ He was holding a Police Appeal for Assistance in his hand, with a picture of Rose and her details on it, saying she'd been missing from home since the twenty-sixth of March 2005. But that didn't make any sense!

Jumping to his feet, the Doctor rushed over to the console and checked the TARDIS' readouts again…

_Ah. Twenty-seventh of March…200_6_…_

"Well?!" In his shock, he'd forgotten he wasn't alone as he turned back to face the irate Tahkaullus Neuvo who was cracking his knuckles and looked like he was preparing to make a dent in the other side of his face. "Where is she?!" He demanded, looking around the console room.

_Where is who?! _The Doctor almost asked back before catching himself, remembering the way a younger version of this man had fawned over Rose. He had been fast to her defence, and even faster to anger when she was in danger…which explained the very, _very _furious look on his face a lot faster than anything else that he could currently think of. "She's not here." He told Tahkaullus, who was stalking around the room now, heading for the corridor to Rose's room. His words halted him though, and the redhead turned back to stare at him, flaring blue eyes demanding to know, right now, where the hell she was.

Gulping involuntarily, the Doctor quickly carried on, "Rose said she was going to check in with her…" he suddenly paled, remembering exactly where she'd gone, "to check in with her mother."

Any thoughts of further discourse left his mind and he was suddenly barrelling out of the TARDIS, Tahkaullus only seconds behind him as he ran for the block of flats Rose had just entered.

How could he have gotten it so wrong? That was incredibly bad! The TARDIS had never been this far off course when it came to things like this, not with unimportant stuff like this! So what the hell had happened? He'd put in the coordinates right, had hit all the right things in the correct order, didn't even use the mallet this time so why had they come this far out? Well quite frankly it didn't matter now – it had happened, and Tahkaullus swooping into the estate with his expensive car, as well as cracking his head open, prevented any possibility of getting Rose out of there and preventing these events from becoming set! Now all he could do was hopefully catch up to her and smooth things out before Rose's mother…saw her. Somewhere a china mug shattered.

He and Tahkaullus came off the stairs and ran across the flat to a door that was still wide open, where he could hear a woman's relieved sobbing. Mentally sighing, realising just how _domestic _things were about to become, the Doctor rushed into the apartment to find Rose swamped by her mother, staring at a pile of similar missing posters as the one that had been thrown at her.

Gulping again, the Doctor stuck his head in. "It's not twelve hours…" he informed her nervously, noting the questioning look in her eyes as well as the 'who the hell is this' look her mother sent his and Rose's way. "It's twelve months." Trying his best to stay as far away from the older woman as he could, the Doctor tried for a tentative smile. "Sorry."

Before either woman could speak, Tahkaullus entered the building. "Hi Rose!" He greeted, faux-cheerfully. "You don't call. You don't write. I've missed you two this last year!"

* * *

**A/N:** Okay Murray! That's your cue!  
Anyway, Kaullus has a probe in space, the Slitheen are on the move, and the Doctor's a year out...whoops.  
And to everyone who was waiting for it, how did I do? Did it send the right tone? Should I have Kaullus take another swing at him in future? The answer to that one is yes by the way.  
I would also like to take this oppurtunity that Kaullus' views on Christianity do not mirror my own. I think its perfectly alright to believe in whatever faith you believe in. But Kaullus built the Underworld to hide his people from the Puritans so he's bound to have misgivings when it comes to the church.  
Anyway, here we go - 'Aliens in London' is on the way.  
Poll. Vote. Hurry.


	15. Big Ben

**A/N:** So…a year out…whoops. And the Doctor got punched! Dance reviewers, dance! And the fists aren't about to stop flying as the duo step into the vile clutches of the evil, destructive, mistress of slapping arrogant Time Lords silly, and treasurer of the Keep-away-from-the-Doctor Club (Victoria's President – Torchwood – and Francine's Vice-President – she sold her daughter out!), Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler nee Prentice! So if Kaullus' universally-chatted-about punch wasn't enough for some of you, get ready for a good old fashioned Tyler Slap, oh how I miss it.  
Well, I'll just quickly disclaim so we can get right into it! Do not own, might own somewhere down the line but must first assassinate the entire production crew. Any attempts to take Tahkaullus Neuvo, and all materials related to him, away from me though will be met with the fierce issuing of an angry letter.

**Warning: **This chapter talks about abusive relationships, and there are mild indications of rape…or at least I think that there are. There is nothing graphic or great in depth, but I thought it wise to inform you: This is my take on the relationship between Rose Tyler and Jimmy Stones.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Big Ben**

There are times when the atmosphere of a room is so tense that people claim they could cut it with a knife, like when you bring home a new boyfriend and no one knows how to act around each other with the new addition, or when a friend's relative dies and you're unsure exactly what to say around them that won't set them off. You know, small things. Things that Rose was used to and had gone through in her life time and again – from her mum's friends being uncertain about whether they could talk about her dad or not, right up to those weird times that Mickey came over. The atmosphere in Jackie Tyler's apartment right now though…right now, she was wondering if the knife that belonged to the idiot who opened up the rift was around because she had a feeling that was the only thing that was going to calm things down now.

Her mum hadn't even said anything when she'd told her that all she'd been doing was travelling. She'd just stepped past her, gone into her room, and slammed the door shut. A moment later and she could make out her mother calling the police. 'Deep shit' did not do justice to just how bad this situation was, and it didn't help that Kaullus had immediately gone and made himself blameless by reminding her mum of, apparently, his detective status. Turned out he'd been playing private eye this last year whilst she and the Doctor were missing and, by the way he'd talked to her mum, had become a bit of a regular face around the estate.

The whole flat was silent, broken every now and then by one or the other of them just letting out a nervous cough, Kaullus taking a seat on one of the dinner table chairs, the Doctor wandering about the enclosed space looking for all the world like a caged animal, and Rose herself slumping into the nearest bean-bag chair and did her best to sink into it. She'd been railed at by Jackie Tyler more than once in her life and quite frankly the woman could be terrifying when she wanted to be.

Nevertheless though, the silence was probably going to drive her mad before her mum even came out of her room. But what exactly was there to talk about? Looking around she tried to find something that she could talk about, ranging from the T.V. to the magazines on the coffee table, and then up to the two men behind her. The Doctor was pacing around, and now that she was looking he seemed to be wincing a little. When he turned around she saw why; the left side of his face was going an unpleasant shade of purple, and it looked like that extended to his eye which screwed shut every now and again.

"Oh my god," jumping out of the chair again she dashed over to get a proper look at it, batting his hands away when he tried to stop her from probing – stupid male pride – "what the hell happened to you?" She demanded, rushing past him into the kitchen.

She heard him huff a little as she opened the freezer. _There we go. Frozen veg. _Not exactly an ice pack but it should at least stop the swelling a bit. The Doctor took it from her and stuck it straight on his eye, moaning at first as the cool temperature hit his skin but he quickly got used to it.

"Well come on then?" Rose pressed him after a while, "What happened down there?" She knew first-hand the Powell Estate wasn't exactly the safest place to live – Darren Pye sprang to mind – but she didn't think any smart kid would go up against a six foot man who would've towered over them. It was a strict no-no in the bully's handbook. So what the hell had done that to the Doctor's face.

He answered by way of angry glare at the only other person in the room who was sitting back contently, smirking a bit at his handiwork. For a moment, Rose stared at Kaullus in utter shock which verged closely on outrage. He _hit _the Doctor! He hit him for getting the times wrong, bringing her back home to her mother…a year late…yeah, suddenly her anger fizzled out as she reconsidered her stance on that. And, as it had been suggested, he'd become a known face around her mother which meant he must have been subject to her tendency to go off on a tangent at least a few times before they came back. She knew herself just how unbearable her mother could become if she had enough reason to go on about a subject, and the subject of her daughter missing must have been a head turner as she spouted off suspicion after suspicion to him that she would've seen on the T.V. about what had happened to Rose.

A guilty spark shot off as she started thinking like that, reminding her that the topic of her missing from home for a year was _not _something to laugh about. But at least now she could guess why Kaullus would've gone off the deep end and thwacked the Doctor the first chance he got.

So in the end, she just asked him, "Couldn't you have been a bit softer?" She pointedly ignored the betrayed look that the Doctor sent her way at that.

"Softer?!" Kaullus snapped back, though there was an underlying current of humour there, "After the year I've had? He's lucky I only went half-arsed on him. Any more than that and I might've broken his jaw."

"And the dramatics return." The Doctor muttered, taking the bag off his face for a moment, and then hurriedly putting it back on, whining not at all petulantly. He therefore just settled for a glare as he wandered back into the living room and waited. Again silence descended, though at least this time it wasn't as tense. Now they had something to laugh at…or rather Kaullus did whilst the Doctor looked on in annoyance.

They didn't have to wait much longer though, as the quiet was ended yet again by the sirens of a police car pulling up in the courtyard of the estate. There was the sound of a door slamming, followed by a series of angry curses. Popping her head out to have a look at the cause for that, Rose noted that the car was being blocked by a black Aston Martin that was parked in the middle of the courtyard, next to the TARDIS, and the police car was coming in from the south entrance. Noting that the car was completely black, and had a sleekness that she was coming to expect of a certain man, Rose backed away from the window and, despite the situation, grinned cheekily at Kaullus. "You don't really get on well with the bobs, do ya?"

He snorted, getting out of his chair and joining her in having a look down at the now annoyed policeman, tell-tale neon green jacket giving him away, and smirked a bit at the sight. "They once tried to do me in for a train ticket." He replied, "A bloody train ticket! Just because it was out by a couple of minutes." Sighing he backed away from the window and rested his hands on the back of the blue bean-bag chair. "Sometimes I wonder if those people even understand what a real crime actually looks like. So many murders go unpunished, you'd think they were blind!"

"Well they're trying." She insisted, though by the look on his face she figured anything she said about them he wouldn't listen to anyway. So she just shrugged and flopped back into her vacated chair, resigned to the approaching inquisition. It took a moment to get comfortable though, seeing as Kaullus was pushing the head down a bit. But then again she mightn't have bothered as it seemed the police now hired Olympic runners, the doorbell seeming to ring the moment she started wriggling around.

At last Jackie stepped out of her room, pink nightie replaced with a stripy blue jumper and jeans and her hair tied back, still not paying the three of them any attention as she went to answer the door, admitting the policeman from downstairs. He was young, looking around the age Kaullus should be if he were human – so about late twenties – with close cropped hair like the Doctor's and a stern expression that wouldn't be remiss on either man's face. If this were any other time and any other circumstance, Rose might have found him attractive. Right now, though she was too busy readying herself for the lay-in that had been brewing for the last half-hour.

The policeman quickly took their names down – frowning sceptically as he wrote down 'Just the Doctor,' under which he drew a double underline – and he was about to ask Kaullus to remove himself from the room when he flashed a black leather wallet at him. "Detective Inspector Thomas Hylan, Scotland Yard," he listed off briskly "investigating the missing person of one Rose Tyler since May twentieth last year."

"Hang on." The Doctor's voice sounded confused, "That's my –" But he was cut off as Kaullus gave him a sharp 'shush!'

His credentials didn't seem to endear him to the young official though, even though it looked like he believed what he was being shown. The policeman looked over the wallet and looked at Kaullus himself. "That's a bit much for just a mild case of missing persons."

"My pay grade says otherwise." Was the redhead's blunt reply, "And if you don't want to endanger yours, I'd advise never considering anyone in this room _mild _ever again." The threat in his voice was clear and, though Rose couldn't see him, the policeman's sudden retreat into the other empty armchair, accompanied by his raised eyebrows, said more than anything else that he wouldn't question Kaullus again.

However, if anyone thought that he was going to lead the interrogation they were proved wrong when Jackie jumped right in first. "Now," she said to Rose firmly, "tell me proper. This last year, where've you been?"

And again, she had no response to give aside from a simple mumbled, "Just…travelling."

"Well I don't believe that," her mum snapped back, her tone rising, "'cos you couldn't have been. So try again!"

"But I was…" She insisted right back, trying to think of any way to turn this around. "I was just travelling, here and there."

"And not a single phone call?" Jackie asked back, "Not one, detailing all the sights? The big reel of film? All the gossip?!" She indicated the Doctor, stood to her side, "Did he take your phone off you? Say you couldn't call me? Is that it?"

Rose suddenly felt the head of the chair spring loose, Kaullus' hands having vanished, and she fell back into it, though she felt anything but relaxed as she answered back, "No. That's not what he-"

"THEN WHAT IS IT?!" Her mother finally yelled, fully furious, "'Cos the hours I've sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own! I thought you were dead! And where were you? 'Travelling!'" One moment she was by the policeman's chair, the next she was suddenly bearing down on Rose, her face a picture of terror induced vexation. "What the hell does that mean? Travelling?!" She demanded, "That's no sort of answer! You ask her!" Jackie pulled away and returned to the other chair, standing over the now _very_ nervous looking policeman who glanced up at her then quickly looking away before she could catch his eye. "She won't tell me! That's all she'll say; 'travelling.'"

"That's what I was doing." Rose tried again, even though part of her was telling her to let it lie. Her mother was on a role and she'd leap on anything to keep going.

And leap on it she did, whirling back to her daughter and pointing furiously at the corridor, "With your passport still in the drawer?!" Jackie yelled, "It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did. I just…" And Rose realised just how poor that sounded a moment too late as she trailed off before adding, a little weakly, knowing what was coming "I forgot."

Her mother didn't disappoint as she immediately blew up at her again, "For a year?!" She shouted, incredulity dripping off her tongue "You forgot for _a_ _year?!_ And I am left sitting here, praying that every time this man," she pointed at one of the two stood beside her, Rose tilting her head up to look at a rather frightened looking Tahkaullus, "opens the door he's come to bring you home like he did the last time?"

_The last time? _Looking up at him, Rose noted the look on his face wasn't scared anymore. Now he looked alarmed, wide-eyed in realisation. _What did he bring me back from?_

But Jackie didn't give her a chance to ask what she meant as she just threw up her hands in absolute resignation, "I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?"

"Actually, it's my fault." The Doctor volunteered, though he too sounded like he didn't quite know what he was supposed to say in this situation. What do you say to a police officer when you bring home a girl you were last seen with the day she went missing? Still he bumbled on, "I sort of…employed Rose as my companion." Oh...could he have worded it any _worse? _Now they were going to think he stole her away as his forbidden fruit fling and he was now returning her after getting over that impulse.

Rose wasn't wrong in her assumption when the policeman asked outright, "When you say 'companion,' is this a sexual relationship?"

"No!" was the emphatic and disgusted response from the pair of them. Why was it that a girl couldn't just enjoy time with a man older than her without anyone immediately assuming they were involved? However, now that she thought about it, Rose noticed that Kaullus had stayed curiously quiet.

Silent men, however was not the subject for Jackie Tyler as she immediately advanced on the one who had opened his gob. "Then what is it?!" She snapped angrily, once more pouncing on something to keep her rage up, "'Cos you, you walk in here all charms and smiles –"

"And scarring me for life," Rose just made out Kaullus whispering to himself.

"Then the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth!" And now there was a little guilty part of her that wanted to laugh at just how very close her mother had come to guessing the whole story – just change the metaphorical to literal. Again though, terminology and translating words was not what Jackie was focussed on as she continued to grill the Doctor. "How old are you then?" She was demanding of him "Forty? Forty-five? What, did you find her on the internet? Go online and pretend you're a doctor?"

"I _am _a doctor!" He insisted, though honestly he should've called it quits and just let her mum calm down. Now there was only one way this was going to end, Rose had seen it time and time again. A gulp from above her suggested that even Kaullus wasn't going to intervene.

The predicted ending came right on as the Doctor stated his claim. "Prove it!" Jackie challenged, "Stitch this, mate!" And even before she finished her sentence her left hand went flying, colliding with the Doctor's left cheek, causing him to take a step back groaning in apparent agony.

"Oooh!" There was a hissing intake of breath behind her, Kaullus seeming to sympathise with the Doctor's plight now…which was a bit rich seeming as half an hour ago, he gave the Doctor a whack himself causing the bruising on his right cheek. Her mum didn't stick around after that, the policeman thankfully coming up between them in an attempt to keep a civil atmosphere, the Doctor being asked to step outside for the remainder of the proceedings. "Retreat, Doctor," Kaullus told him as he led him to the door, "is often considered the better part of valour. You ought to know, you're the one always running."

Rolling her eyes at his 'wise' counsel, Rose set herself in to answer a few more questions – what she'd been doing, who she'd talked to, could anyone verify. _Well no one can verify it. _She thought, a bit miffed after all was said and done. _They're either dead or won't be born for billions of years. And the only one who _could _say anything is playing Inspector Morse!_

Said pretend inspector invited the real one to leave and collect the Doctor's testimony and then just leaned on the wall to the corridor, looking pensive. That look lasted all of five seconds, after which he suddenly burst out laughing. Rose stared at him incredulously, what the hell was funny about all of this? Her mum had ripped into her, terrified that something horrible had happened to her; the Doctor was now being interviewed as the prime suspect in a kidnapping – which he was probably making a mess of; she'd been intimated at being…intimate with the Doctor, which Kaullus then didn't deny; and, worst of all, her mum had gone and slapped the Doctor in the face! Her look must have given away just how unfunny all of this was, as Kaullus' laughter ground to a halt and he quickly sobered up.

Coming over all bashful at being caught, he glanced down at the floor, kicking a bit of imaginary dirt with the toe of his boot. When that did nothing to appease the situation, he cleared his throat and pointed at the door. "I'm just going to go out there," he said, glancing first at the kitchen and then at Rose, looking incredibly nervous. He tried for another, more mocking chuckle but it got caught in his throat at the look on her face, "yeah, don't wanna get the Doctor sent off to jail now do we?"

She still didn't answer him, though a part of her was screaming at him, begging him not to leave her alone with her mum right now. The lack of speech did her no favours, and so she cursed her silence when he bid a hasty retreat out the door and shut it behind him. And Rose was left alone.

Now what was there to do? What could she have possibly told her?

Her silent reverie was ended as she caught the end of a hitched breath, muffled over by something, coming from the kitchen. _Probably getting set for another go._ Sighing mentally, knowing she couldn't get out of it, Rose headed over to the adjoining door, getting whatever she was going to say to calm her mother down ready to go. But all of that died when she did see her. Jackie was leaning over the sink, a hand covering her mouth and her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

"Mum?"

Her single worded question was all it took and suddenly Jackie had spun around and engulfed her one and only daughter in a desperate frantic hug, her now unhidden sobs pouring into Rose's ears. For her part she was quite a bit flummoxed; her mother rarely broke down over anything, the last time she had really collapsed had been…had been after the mess with Jimmy Stones. She'd gone from relieved to furious to joking, then back to furious over the lost eight hundred quid, then over to relieved again just to have her daughter back and alive, all of which finally culminated in a massive breakdown when the word came that Jimmy had been arrested and was in an intensively guarded cell. _Oh god, she thinks it's another Jimmy Stones case…_

The insulted feeling that understanding brought her – as if she'd let that happen again – was weighed out completely by her horror. That time had only been a couple of weeks without informing her…this had been a whole year. And for Jackie to have gone through that again, all on her own, for twelve months…the terror brought tears to Rose's own eyes and she soon found herself hugging her mother as tightly as she was holding her. They stayed like that for a while before Jackie asked her tearfully, "Didn't you think about me at all?"

_Didn't I…?_ Of course she had! Pulling away though showed her just how much her mother didn't know that. "I did!" She insisted, her own tears choking her voice, "All the time! But…" But she hadn't expected to be gone so long…hadn't put stock in the Doctor getting the flight so off course…hadn't thought about it at all.

"One phone call!" Her mum stressed, the heartache and worry over the last terrifying year making itself truly known "Just to know you were alive!"

But she didn't know that! The top-up the Doctor did synched her up with the last time they'd seen each other. A phone call wouldn't have done her any good at all to say how long she'd be gone.

'_I might be late back home…' _That was what she'd said, the last words she'd used must have been echoing in her mother's voice all year round. What had she done when Rose hadn't shown up? Who'd she called? Keisha? Shireen? Mickey? Had she gone as far as to check that Jimmy was still behind bars? What had happened when she ran out of leads to follow up on? Twelve months of fear and worry and…_And I did that to her. _

"I'm sorry." It was all she could say. What else was there that she could really tell her?

And that was exactly what Jackie picked up on next. "And do you know what still terrifies me, is that you still can't say." She was terrified, that was clear from her tearstained cheeks to her quaky voice, "What happened to you, Rose? What could be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?"

All those questions deserved answers. And Rose had answers. The only problem was there was absolutely no way for her to tell her mother any of them.

* * *

Of course the Doctor had swanned off. Honestly, Kaullus shouldn't have been surprised as he stepped outside and noticed the lackage of leather and ears that needed claiming in the name of Snob. Sighing, he patted the poor police officer on the back and told him to go back to the station, he'd handle the rest. Looking as if this had been the best suggestion he'd heard all day, the rather annoyed looking officer bid him a hasty farewell and hurried away – forgetting that it was the decidedly _wrong _thing to do when it came to a crime investigation. Laughing a bit at the man's rookie attitude, Kaullus entertained himself for a while by watching the squad car try to back out only to find that it didn't have enough room to turn around, the TARDIS and the Aston seeing to that rather nicely.

When the car finally did get out, in a manner that would make the Stig proud, Kaullus went off in search of the wayward Time Lord. Pulling out his sonic, he changed the setting to lock on to Gallifreyan biology and smiled when it hummed strongly, reacting to the nearby Doctor. He followed the signal all the way up to the top of the block of flats, sure enough finding the missing alien sulking about, arms folded over his chest, leaning against the wall of the inner section of the roof.

"So this is where you went." Kaullus said in way of greeting, and was just a little put out when the Doctor just eyeballed him before going back to moping around. Rolling his eyes, Kaullus just stuck his hands in his pockets, though he started flicking through the screwdriver's settings looking for, what he hoped would be taken as, a peace offering. "Nice drawings." He noted, taking a moment to admire the graffiti on the bricked wall, "Don't know why everyone keeps moaning about it. That's stifling creativity, that is!" The Doctor just continued to ignore him. "Oh come on, are you going to be like this all day?" The continued silence suggested so.

_Bloody hell, I forgot just how moody this version of him can get. _Deciding then and there that the only way the Doctor was going to speak to him at all was if he did something either super-nice or unexpected, Kaullus relented and pulled out his screwdriver. Before the stroppy alien knew what he was doing, he'd gotten the Doctor's jaw between his thumb and forefinger.

"Hold still." Kaullus told him unnecessarily as he flipped through the screwdriver's settings, looking for the right one. When he did, he held it up to the Doctor's face and pressed the switch, the buzz of the sonic tool filling the air as he waved it over the bruising on the Doctor's face. After a while the frequency of the buzzing changed, telling him that there was nothing left for the screwdriver to heal, and he pocketed it back inside his coat. He was then treated to the Doctor feeling around his face where he had been slugged none-too-gently that morning, and the look of bafflement at not feeling any of the stinging pain that had to have been there before.

Turning confused eyes to him, the Doctor asked right away, "How did it do that?"

"Setting 2684-S," Kaullus recited, leaning back on the wall, arms resting on the top of it "always good for healing up bruises from a fall or vicious attacks from an overprotective parent…or me." He shrugged with a bit of a grin forming, "Whichever comes first."

"But…" the Doctor pulled out his own screwdriver and stared at it widely, "it doesn't have a setting 2684-S!"

"Yours doesn't." Kaullus agreed, smirking proudly as he reproduced his own, bulkier, darker screwdriver with the identification ring and red emitter. "Mine does."

Before he could react, the screwdriver suddenly vanished from his hands, the Doctor keenly inspecting the pair of them, bringing them together and then moving them apart. When he came to some sort of conclusion, he turned to stare at Kaullus suspiciously "And I, at some point in time, just give you my screwdriver?"

"Not your screwdriver," He corrected, rolling his eyes at the man, "mine. Seriously, why should you be the only one to have one?" Knowing that hadn't answered the Doctor's question at all, he quickly snatched the sonic in question back and pocketed it again. "Besides, I'd think you'd be glad that I had it. After the thrashing you've just had."

"You're going to lord over me with that, aren't you?" The Doctor accused, slipping back into his moping stance again, "You gonna spread the word that you got to deck me?"

"Who said anything about me?" Kaullus asked, though he did take that bit about punching the Doctor out under advisement. You never know when a bit of blackmail could come in handy. "I was talking about Rose's mum. She _slapped _you!" Oh all those horror stories they'd told him over the years, every Halloween without fail – somehow finding a way to still make it fresh every time – and this was where it all came from.

Groaning in annoyance, the Doctor rubbed his left cheek, the one Kaullus had neglected to heal up with his screwdriver. "Don't remind me," he muttered petulantly, "and you weren't much help in there." That suddenly sparked something he hadn't thought of and he held out his hand. "And I'll be having me' psychic paper back while we're on that."

"Ah, you noticed." Kaullus grinned as he pulled out the leather wallet, opening it up to look at the supposedly blank piece of paper. "I can honestly say that I love this stuff. It gets you into so many parties! And to your previous statement, no, you can't have it back because I haven't nicked it yet." At the Doctor's confused look, he indicated his leather jacket. "Go on, check."

Sighing, the Doctor rolled his eyes and dug into his jacket's inside pocket, and frowned when, undoubtedly, his hand closed around the exact same wallet that he was looking at. Pulling it out, he opened it up to see the same blank white sheet of paper. Staring at it for a moment, he brought his psychic paper over to Kaullus' and held it over the other, gently lowering it down. Just before the two met, it was as if the two became magnetised, except with the same pole facing each other. The Doctor's psychic paper suddenly lifted back up, and Kaullus felt the tug of his own as it was pushed down.

"Psychic energy…" The Doctor murmured.

"Brought on," Kaullus continued "by the same piece of psychic paper being in the same place, though at two different points in its timestream." He smirked at the surprised look on the Doctor's face as he said that. "Don't get all surprised. I'm just quoting something you said way back when."

It looked as if the Doctor wanted to ask him exactly what he meant by that, but in the end he relented with an annoyed sigh and just rested back. "So at some point in my future, you're going to steal my psychic paper."

"Yep."

"And use it to get into parties."

"Well what else was I gonna use it for?" Honestly, did this regeneration have no concept of the word 'fun' at all? _If that's the case, it's probably best that I don't tell him what we used it for back in 1969. _That time they'd been temporally displaced and had to send a video-recorded message to someone called Sally Sparrow, they'd had to live as normal humans for about three weeks. And this was with Pinstripes, who was so used to running around and fiddling with things, which often resulting in said things going boom. To give Rose a bit of a well-deserved break, Kaullus had eventually, with a bit of help from Martha, convinced him to let them use the psychic paper to get some money out of the banks. _Ah, the days when everything wasn't done digitally. You just had to walk in, show a signed slip, and then you had the run of the place._ However the paper had worked a bit too well, as they'd left with fifty thousand quid. Not knowing what to spend it on, and knowing the Doctor and Rose would be spitting acid if they found out – the pair of them decided to treat themselves out to lunch, and a show, new clothes for both Martha and Rose – as if the Doctor would ever deign to wear anything besides his usual get up – as well as some new furniture for the flat the three of them had rented out, and then dinner, and then another show. By the time they got back, they'd whittled their way down to a more believable five thousand – they'd bought a lot of clothes and _a lot _of furniture…and a bed…for two, not like the pair of them weren't sharing already by that point – though there were a few raised eyebrows when the stuff arrived.

_Yeah, _Kaullus decided finally as he regarded this younger, more moody Doctor, _definitely not telling him about that._ Deciding the need for a change in topic he chose to go onto something that, even years later when he lay on his deathbed, he firmly believed was what caused the Doctor to start trusting him.

"You shouldn't hold it over her." He told him gently. At the Doctor's uncomprehending glance, he elaborated, "Jackie, I mean. She's more scared than she is angry. I wouldn't be surprised if, right now, she's broken down sobbing in a mix of relief that Rose is back as well as utter terror that she can't say anything about where she's been." Knowing that what he was about to go on to was heavily personal, for Rose, Jackie, and himself, Kaullus took a deep sigh before telling the Doctor plainly, "And she's got good reason to be frightened after what happened to Rose before…"

"Before what?" Oh he'd caught the Doctor's interest now. Though he'd barely moved, the air was now charged with intrigue that only really occurred when the Earth's resident Time Lord was around.

This was it, the point of no return. If he went any further now, he would be committing himself to telling a story of an event that still infuriated him to think about. But the look in the Doctor's eyes was Kaullus' undoing, a look that ordered – not requested for, _ordered –_ an explanation. And so, he caved, crossing the line from which he couldn't uncross.

"It was about four years ago now. Rose was still in school, though she wasn't exactly what you'd call a star pupil. She didn't get into too much trouble, no more than the average school kid. And despite that, she was keeping up with the classes, even if she did skive off with her mates here and there to go sneaking around shops in London. It was on one of those skiving days that she ran across him…"

"Him?" The Doctor asked.

"Jimmy Stones…" Just saying the name filled Kaullus with loathing, but he squashed it down and carried on. "He would've been twenty back then, five years Rose's senior, and maybe this is just me talking but that was sending alarm bells ringing the moment he started interacting with her. Said he was rich off his cap, sweet talked her into seeing him again sometime and, still to my bafflement, she fell for it hook, line and sinker. After that he was in her life more and more often, prowling around the estate, meeting her after school, keeping her out late. It strained her relationship with Jackie something fierce.

"And then he asked her to come away with him, forget dreary old London and see the open world. By this point she was completely enamoured, doing anything he asked of her, and so of course she said yes. She was already working by this point, wanting a bit of independence I guess, setting a bit of money aside, saving up for university I think. Stones managed to get her to take it all out, all eight hundred quid's worth – that might not seem like a lot, but that was her life-savings.

"The row between her and Jackie over that…" Kaullus shuddered in reminiscence of that uncomfortable night. "Anyway so she got it all and went down to meet him, handing over all eight hundred quid."

"But he said he was barking rich." The Doctor pointed out, confused.

"He lied. Bastard was using it as a cover to get close." Even now he was recalling how he'd been running his hands through his hair after what had happened next. "Cash in his pocket, Stones then whisked her away and there was no sign of her for two weeks. Jackie was frantic, calling up anyone she knew who had a connection to Rose, went to the police every day, begging for any sort of information. But no one could get a trace on her until April seventh in a clothes store a few miles outside of Leadworth."

"What was the trace?"

"Blood." Hatred didn't do justice to what Kaullus was feeling seep into his veins as he went on. "The police were still in the dark, but that was all I needed to find her. I didn't have the sonic yet, but I had other tools at my disposal." Namely his people skills "A cashier girl had seen a man fitting Stones' description a few hours ago, said that he and his, and I quote 'dolly delight' were staying in a caravan park just a little ways up north. Wasn't too hard to find after that," Sucking in a breath, knowing what he said next would either send the Doctor into the same mindless fury as he had gone into, or would have him begin calculating every possible thing he could do to that dead man walking, Kaullus steeled himself for the next bit. "Stones had burned through her money in the first few days and was now just keeping her around as his…toy. He already had a new bitch sharing his bed." If he'd been paying any sort of attention, he would have noticed that his fingers, that had grabbed hold of the wall behind him as he told this story, had begun to crush the bricks as his grip tightened, "When I found them, the bastard was shouting at her, calling her all sorts of things that I won't repeat…"

'_Good for nothing slag is what you are!'_

'_Should've just left you with the rest of those little whores!'_

'_Nothing but a cheap fuck! Tits an' arse is all you are!'_

"And she was crying…and I just…" Kaullus shook his head, still a bit dazed even now at just how uncontrollably violent he'd gotten after that. "All she was wearing was a nightshirt and damn little else, and he was hitting her…while his newest catch just sat by watching...and I just lost it…"

He really had. The moment he'd caught sight of her red marked tearstained face…everything had condensed down until only two very simple facts and a resolution remained: Fact one; Rose was in pain. Fact two; this disgusting waste of human filth was the one causing that pain. Resolution; the cause of Rose's pain had to be neutralised. With extreme prejudice.

"I could have killed him…I wanted to kill him." He admitted, knowing already that the Doctor was staring at him as he told him this story, knowing that he was giving the Time Lord a new insight to everything regarding the character of Rose Tyler. But there was still one bit left to tell. "And I would have killed him…if Rose hadn't stopped me."

If he thought he'd stunned the Doctor already with his tale, then he must have really kicked the sails out from under his feet as he laid that bit out. "Rose stopped you?" He repeated, not quite believing what he was hearing. "But he'd abused her, hurt her...would've killed her given enough time."

Kaullus just shrugged. "I don't pretend to understand why she did it either," he admitted "I just know that she did. She just held onto me, begged me to stop…said she just wanted to go home."

"And you just did that?"

Again he shrugged, his expression one that said he still didn't understand exactly why he'd let things lie like that, save only to say "It was Rose…" And then he sighed at the completely nonplussed look on the Doctor's face in response to that statement. "If I was having this talk with an older version of you, you'd understand what I mean." Shaking his head, knowing he needed to finish this before Rose found them, Kaullus powered on. "So I took her home, back to the Powell Estate. Jackie was beside herself, put me through the Tyler Inquisition – well done for surviving that, by the way – and afterward insisted that I give her my number in case something happened, or Stones came looking for Rose."

"Smart move on her part," The Doctor grudgingly admitted, "seeing as you let him go."

"Ah, but I didn't." There was no guilt in his voice as Kaullus gave up the very ending of the tale. "I wasn't going to let Stones off that easily. Rose stopped me from killing him, but there was nothing to stop me from ruining his life. After I'd seen Rose home, I dealt with my other passenger."

"Stones…"

"Bingo. You know I had a flat here? Well it worked out nicely as a hide-out for someone like him. All it took then was a simple phone call. Two days later the wanker was being…well carried, I suppose, off to prison. And as far as I know he's still inside, doing time for multiple cases of fraud and tax evasion as well as multiple rape and attempted rape. He'll be old, frail and grey by the time he gets out…not to mention impotent."

"Impotent?" The Doctor repeated, a touch of universal male horror in his also satisfied tone, "Just what the hell did you do to him?"

"Final count?" Again, there wasn't even a smidgeon of guilt tug at his conscience as Kaullus casually listed off the damage he'd inflicted on Jimmy Stones. "Let's see…dislocated shoulders, broken arms, irreversible damage to the left kneecap, and his right leg wasn't much better being broken in four places – shouldn't have tried to hide behind that tree – cracked skull, shattered ribcage, some general muscle damage here and there…oh! And irreversible damage to the testes and bladder." There was no way to sugar-coat that. Just the way he spoke about it had sent the Doctor on edge, as he was now looking at him too with a sort of half-awed, half-terrified expression, re-evaluating him in that brief moment.

Remembering the reason for the story, Kaullus cleared his throat and stepped away from the wall, dusting off the gravel and bits of crushed brick on his hands. "So don't hold Jackie in too much contempt, Doctor. She has reason to be suspicious of older men, even more so than most mothers." The non-committing huff he got in return was about what he expected, and so he rolled his eyes deciding that it was going to be the best he'd get out of him.

Then another thought struck him, "And do me a favour? Don't tell Rose about any of this. As near as I can tell, she's suppressed the memory. Oh she still remembers what Stones did to her…but she doesn't remember what I did to him."

* * *

Tahkaullus' story had left the Doctor stunned, there was nothing else to name the emotion he was feeling as he listened to him. Oh he'd had an idea that the man beside him was a bit more than just human – the ears alone gave that away – he'd seen how he crushed that corpse's wrist with just his fingers, and that ruddy punch had been something as well. Even after what he'd done with his screwdriver, the Doctor could still feel a little tingling where that fist had crashed into his face. But hearing what Tahkaullus had done to this Jimmy Stones bloke, because of what he'd done to Rose, the absolute lack of remorse in his tone as he listed off what he'd done to the bastard…the Doctor didn't like to admit it – really, _really _didn't like to admit it at all – but he was bloody glad that the man seemed more intent on helping them out rather than making his own bid for world domination.

And now he was asking him to keep this information to himself? The Doctor didn't know why Tahkaullus seemed to trust him, especially with such a story that would surely, if she was told, send Rose running from him. He'd just been given the ultimate weapon to use on Tahkaullus, the only thing standing in his way a mere request not to blab. Oh he didn't deny that Jimmy Stones probably got everything he deserved, but to have done it in front of Rose, to have traumatised her so far as to repress the information? He could end the budding friendship she was starting to form with this man with just a few well-placed words…and Tahkaullus had to know that.

The required level of trust…it would be like him telling someone his real name.

And that properly scared the Doctor even more: Someone who trusted him, not only with his life, but with his heart and his soul. To him that was scarier than fighting an army of Daleks or escaping a hungry Weeping Angel.

The tense atmosphere left by that discourse would likely have gone on forever if Rose hadn't shown up, changed clothes – now a pink T-shirt and a different pair of jeans – looking rather subdued. She glanced between the pair of them and sighed, "Seems to be quite the party going on up here."

That at least got a laugh out of the two of them, and she plopped herself on the roof, legs crossed, between the pair of them and the Doctor could not be more grateful for a distraction from all these disturbing thoughts.

"I can't tell her," she said after a moment, "I can't even _begin…_she's never gonna forgive me."

_If you knew what I knew…_The Doctor thought ruefully, glancing over at Tahkaullus who was now settling beside Rose..._forgiveness from your mother might not be at the top of your list._

"And I missed a year?" She went on, turning his way, "Any good?"

"Middling." He replied, not fully paying attention as he went over the story for the thirtieth time, trying to reconcile the energy-filled girl beside him to the picture that Tahkaullus had unwittingly drawn in his mind of an abused fifteen year old virgin. It just didn't fit.

Completely oblivious to his internal puzzle, Rose just snorted, "You're so useless."

_Well it was! _He insisted, not fully paying attention for Time Lords wasn't same as for humans – he'd been paying attention, just not as much – besides, who really wanted to know that John Paul died in April, or that in the Sudan they were having a bit of a squabble, or that the IRA had announced an ending of its armed campaign? It was all dull! Where were the big historic breakthroughs and huge social events? You know, the little stuff?

Seeing that she still wasn't taking it that way and, much to his annoyance, that Tahkaullus was nodding his agreement of her calling him useless, the Doctor asked irritably "If it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay now?"

There was serious doubt in her expression as she turned back to him, that similar torn look she'd had the first time he'd asked her to come with him. "I dunno." She admitted, before adding guiltily "I can't do that to her again, though."

Whether she meant disappear into space with him, or just disappear in principle, the Doctor thought better on finding out. Instead he went for the light-hearted route. "Well, I'll tell you this much." He told her seriously, "She's not coming with us."

That got a laugh out of all three of them, Rose's easily the freest of them, to which she responded, "No chance."

"Oh I dunno." Tahkaullus commented slyly, smirking over at the Doctor before pretending to whisper conspiratorially to her, "With her around you might actually end up where you're supposed to be going."

"Oi!" He snapped at the pair of them, "I can fly the TARDIS just fine!"

"Naples."

"Do I need to remind you of where you're standing?" Tahkaullus asked, raising his scarred eyebrow at him, a mocking smile in place, before turning back to Rose. "Just think of it: Every time he got it wrong, _whack!" _He mimed the way Jackie had slapped him in her apartment, sending her over into another fit of giggles. "Out for the count!"

"Not likely!" The Doctor countered over their chortling, however he was far more serious than either of them "I don't do families."

But it seemed Rose was still fixed on the last bit that Tahkaullus had pointed out as the only thing she said in response to that was, "She _slapped _you!"

_Blimey, is everyone going to keep reminding me of that? _Frankly he was a bit in shock of the situation himself, it was new to say the least. "Nine hundred years of time and space," he groused, more for himself to hear than anybody else, "and then I get slapped by someone's mother." What was the universe coming to?

Rose though, she was giggling at the memory now "Your face!" She laughed.

"It hurt!" He moaned, suddenly feeling the returning sting on his cheek – that woman had a horrid swing! There was no sympathy to be found from the two of them though as they just laughed at his misfortune. Didn't they know about a little something called respecting their elders? Actually, considering Tahkaullus, that didn't apply to him did it? _Well he could at least stop trying to corrupt Rose!_

The girl in question suddenly had something click in her mind and she turned back to him, "When you say nine hundred years…"

Well, it was bound to come up sooner or later. Folding his arms and sticking his chin out, the Doctor answered "That's my age."

To her credit, she didn't look all that surprised. "You're nine hundred years old?" It sounded more like she was just gathering facts rather than trying to wrap her head around it.

"Yeah." He replied readily.

However, that didn't put off Tahkaullus who immediately cleared his throat before adding his bit. "Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on that." Credit where credit was due, the man certainly knew how to get attention drawn to him as he exposited. "I've seen enough records on you, as well as read enough eye-witness reports, to know that that can't be your age." Nudging Rose a little to get just her attention, he continued, "Fact of the matter is, if I put together all the crap he's gotten himself into, as well as what sorts of things he's said here and there, it's actually more likely that he's closer to _fifteen_ hundred years old." Smirking over at the Doctor, he finished off, "So in other words, you're having a midlife crisis!"

Once again, where the Doctor had expected her to seem at least a bit stunned, Rose went and surprised him by just nodding to that figure. "My mum was right." She admitted after a moment, drawing confused looks from the other two, "That _is _one hell of an age gap."

That seemed to bring an end to that particular discussion as she then hopped off the wall back onto her feet. For a moment she didn't say anything, as if now just properly processing the new information she'd gotten from the pair of them. Then she let out a sigh before going on to say, quite plainly, "Every conversation with either of you just goes mental."

"Why thank you," Tahkaullus replied from behind her, giving her a little flourish "I do try my best."

"Oi," She poked a finger back at him "shut it you. Fact is, there no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it all and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person…"

"Ahem!"

"Alright," she sighed, rolling her eyes at Tahkaullus, "I'm the only _human_ on planet Earth who knows that they exist."

But he wasn't done there in terms of spouting things out to Rose that the Doctor would rather keep under wraps. At the mention of her being the _only _one, Tahkaullus chuckled very pretentiously. "A-huh. The _only _human…right…" He glanced over at the Doctor as he said that, as if to say 'What the hell man? Don't you think that's vital information?' To which he responded with a look that said 'Nope, absolutely not important. Don't you dare say a word.'

Their little staring match would have gone on for quite some time…if it hadn't been interrupted by a loud blaring siren overhead that soundly oddly like a foghorn. It drew their attention upwards just in time to see a smallish, greenish, roundish looking spaceship fly right over their heads, causing both the Doctor and Tahkaullus to duck down. The craft flew right across the Powell Estate, over the suburbs and headed straight for the industrial centre of the city proper. Getting a chance to look at it now, or rather just the back of it, the Doctor noted that there was a heavy cloud of smoke coming out of the back which had to be the ship's exhausts. That was really all that he could make out of it as the craft suddenly descended into a dive bomb over the Thames just a hair's breath away from hitting the Tower Bridge, pulling up at the last second to fly over the far side of the river bank, bits of it falling off as it went.

"No…" Tahkaullus' muttered denial caught his attention and the Doctor locked on again to what the ship was heading towards, "no, no, no, they wouldn't dare!" Directly in its path were the Houses of Parliament, and sticking up from them, in all its shining British glory, was Big Ben. And the ship was headed right for it. At the last moment it pulled away from the London landmark…but not so soon that said landmark got away unscathed. The craft had a small wingspan over its central area, covering what looked like a slipstream engine. And one of these wings happened to clip the side of Big Ben. Well, when you say 'clip' it was more like tearing a great big hole in the side of the tower, wrecking two of the four faces, before the ship pulled away. Sluggishly, chuggishly, the vessel dropped into the Thames, the whole of London just having witnessed the spectacle of its arrival.

"Gaaaah!" Tahkaullus shouted in unbridled frustration as he spied the damage. Nevertheless, he put it behind himself enough to pull Rose up. The Doctor got up on his own, muttering about the man's favouritism a bit before he too stared in the direction of where the spaceship had gone down.

Rose took one look at the ship's path, stared down at the hundreds of people who were now staring up at the sky, trying a figure out if what they'd just seen had been real, likely went over her last statement, and huffed in annoyance. "That," she stated plainly, "is just not fair."

As for the Doctor himself, the last hour and a half melted away. He forgot about being punched out by Tahkaullus, he forgot about bringing Rose home a year late, forgot the Jackie Tyler slap and even that rather disturbing tale that Tahkaullus had just told him. That was a spaceship design that he'd never seen before! An alien species that he'd never encountered before was in that ship! And it had crashed into Big Ben! Fantastic!

What else could he do but laugh in utter delight, grab Rose's hand and run for the stairs?

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah...this chapter wrote itself...I don't even know where the Jimmy Stones stuff came from. I just wanted Kaullus and the Doctor to have a chat, as well as set up another continuity loop. Tell me what you think. I need to know if I've gone and made a mess out of this because the critic in me is telling me that I have.  
Anyway, the Slitheen have made their move so we can now get on with the important bit: Watching it on TV. See ya!


	16. The Domestic Approach

**A/N:** Right, I don't know what the hell happened in the last chapter, I just went off on a tangent and was unable to stop. I am pleased to inform you, readers, that normal service will now resume – aliens crashing into Big Ben, the Doctor forced to watch T.V., Kaullus begins to suspect something and a TARDIS key is given out.  
Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was then there would be a plaque in the TARDIS that said 'Fifty-first century. We put all our heads together…' BARROWMAN! Grr! *adorable David Tennant fist-shake*

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**The Domestic Approach**

The whole city had ground to a halt, Kaullus noted as they ran into the real heart of London, which did nothing for the tempers of many a late driver to work. Pandemonium was a good word for the chorus of car horns that was playing all around them as they weaved their way through the traffic, abandoning the pavement and running along the road. The excitement bubbling in the Doctor was apparently contagious, as he soon found himself grinning ecstatically…an alien spaceship flying over their heads, practically making a show of its crash as it zoomed all over London…and then it hit Big Ben. Yeah that was a little bit on the side of annoying for him. He liked Big Ben! Was it the tower's fault that it was stuck onto the bloody Parliament building?

Still all of that didn't really amount to a hill of beans if they couldn't actually get over there! The further in they went the more congested it became until finally they were brought to a halt completely. They'd reached the head of the traffic, but that was being further blocked off by armoured trucks and lads in military gear, all of them wearing a red beret with a familiar silver badge of two wings stretching outward pinned to it.

"No way we're getting through this way." He informed them as he observed the soldiers' ordinance – basic standard automatic rifles, good if you're _not _going up against technology you don't understand.

"We're miles from the centre," Rose thought aloud beside him, looking around at the lines of traffic behind them, a number of drivers cursing Ken Livingston of all people, "They must've gridlocked the scene. The whole of London must be closing down."

Snorting, Kaullus replied "What do you expect? Strange thing falls out of the sky, and we're all just going to leave it alone?" He shook his head in half-felt annoyance at the human race in general, "You lot are just too curious for your own good sometimes."

"I know." The Doctor replied happily, completely missing the entire conversation they were having beside him as he stared around at all the angry faces and big guns, "I can't believe I'm here to see this! This is fantastic!"

In response, Kaullus rolled his eyes and tried to quell his own bubbling enthusiasm at the whole thing going on around them. If both of them started acting like five-year-olds at Christmas over it, they were likely to set something on fire…and then blow up a building. That was their modus operandi after all. Relenting at least just a little smirk, he turned to the Doctor, "And I'm guessing, from the amount of bouncing you're doing," seriously, the man wouldn't stand still "that you had absolutely no idea that this was gonna happen."

"Right in one." The Doctor replied, still grinning away, and still hopping.

"Do you recognise the ship?" Rose asked, now also looking at him as he kept trying to see over the jeeps and such.

"Nope." He answered gleefully.

"Well then do you know why it crashed?"

"Nope!" If the Doctor kept grinning like that, Kaullus was absolutely certain that the top of his face would come off. Even if he was smiling right along with him as he continued to make mental notes of the kinds of soldiers walking about their established perimeter – just the basic grunts, no one of real significance. The real head honchos and tech geeks would be closer to the ship or being airlifted in.

In between the pair of them, Rose laughed in exasperation at the Doctor's lack of knowledge, "Oh, I'm so glad I've got you." She muttered sarcastically, folding her arms and looking incredibly put out.

Oblivious as ever due to the current madness around them the Doctor just nodded in agreement with her assessment. "I bet you are!" He crowed, "This is what I travel, for Rose! To see history happening right in front of us."

"Really?" Kaullus couldn't help asking, "'Cos I thought it was to look all impressive and important."

"I happen to have hobbies that don't blow up in my face, Mr. Poet."

"But your hobbies _are _blowing things up in your face!"

"Just because you always catch me at my worst, doesn't mean that's all I can do!"

"Do I need to start speaking Italian again?"

"Oh god!" Rose shouted over the pair of them, "Can you two shut up for just five minutes!" Her voice and tone the very essence of Jackie Tyler coming through did the trick, causing the Doctor to flinch back whilst Kaullus adopted a properly subdued expression. She could get scary when she started channelling her mother. After looking between them for a moment, Rose then indicated the crowd again, "Now, how's about we go see that ship, eh? Traffic's not really a concern when we've got the TARDIS, yeah?"

There was a whole list of reasons why doing that was a bad idea, ranging from simply having to go over there and start the Old Girl up to the other end of the spectrum which was the headache that had slowly become more of a worry known as Torchwood. Kaullus didn't like Torchwood. Whenever he thought of Torchwood, his mind suddenly started picturing the Third Reich…he wasn't entirely sure why though. He would've listed all of these concerns, and more, however the Doctor beat him to it. "Better not," he cautioned, settling on one of the more middling reasons why they shouldn't just fly over "they've just had one spaceship land in the middle of London, I'm not gonna shove another one on top."

"But," Rose frowned, looking and sounding rather confused as to why not, "yours just looks like a big blue box. Who's gonna notice that?"

"You'd be surprised," he countered right back, gesturing to the military lot ahead of them that were now turning protesting drivers away, "big emergency like this, potential for riots all over town – there's gonna be all kinds of people watching this. Trust me, the TARDIS is safer staying put."

Smirking, Kaullus tapped her on the shoulder. "Translated to human, that means there're all sorts of people down there who he owes money to." Suddenly he frowned and looked up at the Doctor, "Which reminds me, you never did fork over that eleven quid."

His humour did nothing to spur the mood of a now thoroughly disgruntled Rose as her shoulders slumped forward, the lack of transportation because the Doctor was a bloody welsher on a bet promptly dampening her spirits. "So history is happening and we're stuck back here, 'cos you won't pay up."

"Yes to the first," The Doctor agreed, craning his head up again, looking for any way through the perimeter. "As for the second, he doesn't know what he's on about."

"Of course I don't." Kaullus muttered in annoyance, throwing his hands up in the air before starting to look for a way through the barricade and out the other side. The psychic paper was no good here, UNIT soldiers and officials had basic psychic training these days because _someone, _not naming names, accidentally let the secret slip out back in the late eighties. Now it was virtually impossible to slip anything by them, and Torchwood wasn't much better – they'd been trying to infiltrate that establishment for fifty years now without success, because psychic paper didn't do the trick with them. The last time they'd tried that, the attempting infiltrator had nearly been shot dead when he was outed. Still there was always a way through, you just needed to find it…

He got so into looking for a way through that he missed the completely obvious solution to their dilemma until Rose pointed it out to them. "We could always do what everybody else does," it would've been funny, the quizzical look on the Doctor's face as she said that, but Kaullus was pretty sure at that moment that he had the exact same look on his. "We could watch it on T.V."

And like that, Kaullus wanted to kick himself, turn in his Elite status, and go off to live in a cardboard box somewhere. It wouldn't be so bad if this was the more experienced, knowing-what-she-was-doing Rose that he'd first met, he would have expected her to be one step ahead of them. But this was Rose right at the start, and she was already thinking ahead of him! Shameful is what it was! There was some comfort, though, in the look on the Doctor's face that said he would have never come to that conclusion with or without help.

_He really is a useless, big-eared nut._

* * *

For the second time today they found themselves at the Powell Estate, and the Doctor's first reaction upon seeing the TARDIS was abject fury. "Who the hell has done _that!?" _All thoughts of the alien spaceship fled his mind as he stared in horror at what had been done to his own.

On the side of the ship's blue wooden outer shell, some little snot of a kid had put a spray can to work and had written, in white paint and in big capital letters, the words 'Bad' and 'Wolf.' All over his ship! His ship had been vandalised by some young punk and the little felon hadn't even stuck around to admire their handiwork. Strangely enough, he'd expected some form of snicker from one of their party, but there had been nothing. Turning around to locate the source of his good fortune though, the Doctor found that the look on Tahkaullus' face was far from mirthful. In fact, he was furious. "What? Not flashy or 'artistic' enough for you?"

"Someone's graffiti'd the TARDIS, and I'm supposed to find that funny?" Was his angry reply as he stalked past the Doctor to inspect the white paint, "Done recently, maybe an hour or so old."

"I'm surprised," the Doctor stated, "what happened to it being 'stifled creativity?'"

"It's one thing to draw all over a wall that goes on easily ignored." The redhead growled, running a finger down the lettering and then inspecting it, a dab of white now coating the tip, "It's another thing to draw on a very old, very powerful, very temperamental time ship."

And the surprises from this man kept on coming as he started stroking the TARDIS' outer shell, patting the gently here and there. It was almost as if he were speaking to it like the Doctor used to before the Time War. Seeing someone else do it though, who had already shown he could fly the ship in question as well as converse with her, didn't endear the Doctor any. It just reminded him that there was still so much that Tahkaullus was hiding from him. His ruminations were cut short however as Rose elbowed him in the ribs, "You can go hunting for the kid who did that later. There's an alien spaceship being investigated, remember?"

"But the TARDIS!" Both men exclaimed at the same time, drawing awkward glances from both of them.

But she wasn't having any of it, folding her arms, her gaze flicking between the two of them impatiently, once again looking scarily like her mother. "We'll catch the kid later." She told them slowly and firmly, with a voice that brooked no argument. Again that strange eerie similarity to her mother right there, twice in a row now, and the Doctor was starting to get nervous. Deciding to listen to a piece of advice he'd gotten this morning, regarding retreat and valour, he nodded with a bit of a huff and followed after Rose who was already heading towards the flats, Tahkaullus soon following after them.

They made their way up the stairs in relative silence, broken only once or twice by either Tahkaullus muttering about knowledge-less youths who should know better than to draw on a big blue box, or the Doctor going over the generous lessons that he would teach the scamp when he got his hands on him. _This _was why he generally stayed away from the twenty-first century, the time of ASBOS, the police doing everything wrong, and the defence minister calling them all plebs! Give him the twentieth any day, when the only thing you had to worry about getting paint on was your work desk. Both of them got a resounding command to shut up from Rose, which they grudgingly obeyed.

"Mum's probably invited the whole estate over." She warned them as they walked through the front door. And sure enough there were a couple of faces inside that hadn't been before.

The Doctor winced a little at all the unfamiliar people. _This is getting far too domestic._ He groused inwardly, getting even more annoyed when Tahkaullus just walked on in and everyone gathered there was suddenly up in arms and shaking his hand, welcoming him in as if he were some returning war hero. The man just smiled and went with it, making his way through them all to sit on the same chair as the last time they were here. The envy the Doctor felt at the sight of such ease amongst all these unknowns was not lost on him as he just ambled his way through and sat himself down in the armchair in front of the telly.

Flicking it on, they were graced immediately with BBC News showing a shot of the battered clock tower that had borne the brunt of the vessel's theatrical arrival, the headline: London UFO Crash. _"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands into central London." _Tom Hitchinson's voice reported over the images as they changed to ones of police in riot gear holding back mobs of curious witnesses who were doubtless trying to get a look at what had just hit their clock as well as taking a dip in their river. _"Police reinforcements are being drafted in from across the country to control widespread panic, looting and civil unrest." _

_Looting already? _Why was it that, whenever something went drastically not according to routine on this little blue-green planet, looters just seemed to appear out of nowhere? Did they just hide in wait, like some underground paramilitary group and then jump out the moment a chance arrived? _Humans, _the Doctor concluded, _they never, ever want to make a lick of sense._

"_The police urge people not to panic," _Hitchinson continued, now being showed on the screen reporting live from the scene of the crash, civilians rushing past him to get a look at the ship that the camera was now panning over to get a shot of. _"There's a helpline number on the screen if you're worried about friends or family."_

The Doctor was briefly distracted as something suddenly landed on the right arm of his chair and he looked up to see Tahkaullus perched there, sans coat, red hair loose over his ears, and just examining the screen. Glancing down at him, he quickly found what he was looking for and nicked the remote from the Doctor's hands. "Wanna see how the Americans are taking this." He explained, flicking over to AMNN.

Tom Hitchinson and images of the ship were replaced with the studio of the American News Channel with Trinity Wells reporting the headlines. _"The military are on the lookout for more spaceships."_

"Of course they are." The redhead snorted sarcastically, clearly not liking that little bit of information at all, "It's an alien spaceship, it's not like it just – oh, I dunno – crashed!"

"_Until then," _Wells continued, _"all flights in North American airspace have been grounded." _ And this time it was the Doctor who snorted at the sheer paranoia of the Americans. It was an alien spacecraft! Not some new evil eastern vessel that was coming to finish what it started in 2001! Besides hadn't they caught Bin Laden by now? No wait that was in 2010. 2005 was when the trials on Saddam Hussein began.

It seemed though that Tahkaullus agreed with his stance on the over-the-top fear of the Americans as he flipped back to News 24, likely hoping, as the Doctor was, that Hitchinson would be more helpful. The reporter's face appeared and he seemed to have stopped moving, standing on the Westminster Bridge, the ship in the background. _"The army are sending divers into the wreckage." _Even he seemed tense with excitement as he reported the events _"No one knows what they're going to find."_

Now they were getting somewhere! With any luck they might even get a close peek at what had been flying that thing. _Not likely though. _The Doctor thought grimly, frowning at the screen where all he could see was a dinghy and a few lads in skin-suits. The moment they found something, they'd hound it away and hide it somewhere big and obvious and likely televised on national television. After that, then he could have a look at the pilot of that ship.

"Well that's something I guess." Tahkaullus muttered next to him, flicking back to AMNN where Wells was still sat behind the desk of the studio.

"_The President will address the nation live from the White House," _She reported,_ "but the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies." _

"If that doesn't start a panic, I don't know what will." The redhead sighed, chucking the remote back to the Doctor before wandering back a bit and sitting in the chair he'd vacated, next to one of Rose's mum's friends…he didn't remember her name. Anyway, Tahkaullus then accepted the mug of tea that Jackie brought over with a light smile. "Cheers Jacks. Oh," and now the Doctor just knew he was glancing his way, "would you mind making a cuppa for Satellite Ears over there?"

"Well I reckon I haven't got a choice, have I?"

The dulcet tones of Jackie Tyler now reached his ears, backed up by her friend as she had her turn at laying into Rose, "You broke your own mother's heart!" She snapped, finger wagging for good measure "In tears she was!"

"Either I make him welcome –"

"Breaking apart in my arms –"

"– Or I run the risk of never seeing her again!"

"– Whilst I cradled her like a child!"

"Oi!" The Doctor tried adding his own voice to the noise, but was just washed out as the two of them kept on babbling angrily at or about Rose, who was trying to dig herself as deep into the armchair she'd sat herself in as she could.

Then Tahkaullus joined in, calling to them both by name. "Jackie! Marianna!" His addressing them that way got both their attention to him again and he pointed at the telly. "Alien life! Crashed spaceship! Rose sat right there, and very not dead! Now then," he continued a little more calmly, "leave them _both _alone. This is big, and I don't intend to miss it. And on that note, Doctor" He called out to him, "turn the sound up a bit would you? Sounds like they've found something." Flipping back around at that, the Doctor leaned forward, ignoring the bit on the Prime Minister for now, and focussed on what Hitchinson was saying.

"_They've found a body."_

A slamming behind him told the Doctor that Tahkaullus was, once again, back on his feet and likely leaning over his head as the story unfolded. _"It's unconfirmed but I'm told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore." _The camera zoomed in on the dinghy that was now on its way back to the river bank, a white sheet covering up a sizeable lump that could only be the body that had been found.

Once more his following of the news was distracted by Rose's mum as she came back with a cuppa for Marianna, as well as a beer for an aging Asian man who was chatting hushly to Rose. Every so often he'd glance at the Doctor suspiciously before going back to talking to her. As for Jackie, the interruption came in the form of gossip, "Oh guess who asked me out – Billy Crewe."

Going by the sounds of approval from some of the older visitors, and the catcalls from the younger ones, not to mention Rose's embarrassed face-palm, the man seemed to be a good call. Even Tahkaullus seemed to be on the approving end, until he caught the Doctor's eye and then he just raised his eyebrows at him as if to say 'What's so special about that?!' The Doctor, once more to his annoyance, found himself agreeing with the redhead. The biggest event of the century had just landed, practically on these peoples' doorsteps, and what did they talk about? Dates and blokes.

_Humans, _he shook his head in astonishment, _no wonder it takes them so long to get into space. They're always getting distracted. _Speaking of that, he was missing the news and he quickly returned to observing events as they unfolded. The screen now showed a van pulling out, with photographers streaming around it, trying to get a look at what was inside. _"Unconfirmed reports say that the body _is _of extra-terrestrial origin." _The news reader's voice spoke over the images, _"An extraordinary event unfolding here live in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts as yet unknown. The roads in Cen-_

"_-don are being-"_

"_And when you've stuck your fins on, you can cover the whole lot…"_

Who stuck this kid on his lap? One minute the Doctor had been following what was going on in London, the next this toddler had suddenly materialised on his leg, nicked the remote and had found his way to Blue Peter, where Matt Baker was showing how to make an edible spaceship cake. The little mite was devious too as he tried to keep the remote away from him, forcing the Doctor to pick him up properly to get it back, and Rose was no help at all, giggling away and content in just letting him be set upon by the lad, a little girl sitting beside her waiting in the wings in case the first soldier failed. His reinforcement came in the form of Tahkaullus, chuckling and bending down, plucking the toddler out of the Doctor's arms and flying him around over his head. The child squealed in delight, laughing and spreading his arms wide, much to his parents' amusement as they watched their newest addition playing with their boy.

As for the Doctor, he was stunned for a moment at just how…natural Tahkaullus seemed to be in his actions, the way he treated the little child typical of a parent. Glancing over, he noted that Rose was just as baffled as she watched him, even as he came around and collected the girl, leading her over to the table where he sat them both and pulled out a pack of cards. Everything he did with them looked absolutely genuine, no acting or putting up with them as some adults might, he was interacting with the two children with a practised ease.

Suddenly remembering that he had more important things to attend to, the Doctor returned his attention to the telly, flicking the channel back to News 24, showing Hitchinson now standing in front of a gothic art style building, military vehicles and personnel between him and it. _"We still don't know if it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything." _

_Of course…_ he rolled his eyes ruefully, _far from it to tell everyone the truth and thus put them _out _of a potential panicked state!_

"_But the body has been brought here, Albian Hospital, the roads closed off – it's the closest to the river." _On that note the Doctor almost bounced right out of his seat. Now he had a location he could go and have a look at this survivor. Something was niggling at him, and it all tied up with that ship hitting Big however wasn't finished as new information came in through his earpiece and he looked at something off-screen. _"I'm being told that's…General Asquith now entering the hospital." _And then the camera panned over to get a shot of a rather tall, burly man in military officials stepping out of the escort car, shooting a stern look around at the area before walking inside.

Hitchinson continued on for a bit more about the hospital being evacuated, but from that point on the Doctor wasn't fully listening. In fact he was a tad annoyed. If the military had a general in the complex then he'd have to go in a lot later than he'd like. Time machine or not, his absence was going to be noted by Rose, and Tahkaullus would never leave him alone long enough for him to slip away unnoticed.

Sighing, he leaned back into the chair and flicked back over to Blue Peter. It was going to be a long wait.

* * *

With the dying down of the excitement, Kaullus had to admit that there was something not quite right with the alien landing. For starters, when you crash land there's usually not that much control over where a landing can be made and that vessel had looked like it was doing quite a few flashy turns as it went down. Second of all, Big Ben – who in their right minds would think that was genuine? Hitting landmarks was reserved for those cheesy sci fi shows.

_Ooh! Speaking of which, must remember to set a reminder for seven-thirty. _It was a bit ironic really; the day after Rose and the Doctor disappeared, BBC started airing a revamped version of a sci fi series from the sixties, now starring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. The series had blown viewers away with its success, as well as the surprise of Piper's extraordinary acting. They were now on for a second series, though Eccleston had left to do other things, replaced by the quickly-becoming-a-favourite David Tennant, and people were expecting brilliance.

None of which helped out the current situation they were in. That ship had not been acting like a crashing ship…or at least he didn't figure it was. However, an idea had started to form itself in his mind and he rather hoped that it was wrong. Grabbing his coat off the chair, leaving Jim and Abby to their game of snap, Kaullus stepped outside for a moment on the pretence of needing some air, closing the door behind him.

Once he was sure that no one else was coming out, he pressed his hand to his ear and activated his comm. "Eye, you following all of this?"

"_Why wouldn't we be?!"_ was the immediate answer. _"The whole place is buzzing down here, Guardian, the Committee's scared out of its wits at such obvious sighting." _

"Well, just keep them calm for now." He instructed hastily, walking away from Jackie's apartment a bit and leaning out over the outside wall, "Listen, I need you to do a cross reference of this ship's emission trails with another."

"_Why, what's wrong?"_

"Just do it, alright?" He replied hastily, rubbing his eyes, wondering why the hell he didn't ask Jackie for a coffee. The Doctor was in town, things always went barmy when he was around! "If I'm right, then we'll know immediately. I want you to compare the emissions of our new visitors with the ones that Pioneer picked up."

For a moment there was silence on the other end, doubtless because the entire installation had ground to a stop at his order. If he was right…then they could potentially be in a whole heap of trouble. After a moment the Operator on the other end responded, _"Cross examining emissions now, Guardian. This might take a while though."_

"That's fine," all things considered he was a bit behind in the information uptake. BBC News did its best but it always missed things, "what's the status at Downing Street?"

"_Elite Shadow reported in a couple of hours ago, and you're not going to like what he has to say." _Frankly, if what was happening was what he thought was happening, Kaullus couldn't see how his day could get any worse. _"Prime Minister Tony Blair has vanished." _Then again there was always a chance of being proven wrong.

"You can confirm that?"

"_Margaret Blaine states having personally escorted him to his car minutes before the ship crashed." _The Operator reported, his own worry clear as he told Kaullus what Shadow had told him. _"And Transport Liaison Oliver Charles states that they have no record of Blaire's car having departed. In his own words, it's 'literally vanished.'"_

"And the rest of the Cabinet?" Honestly, Kaullus suspected he was setting himself up for a very long evening, and he was only adding to the workload by asking questions. "What's going on with them?"

"_Stuck outside the gridlock." _

Yep. More work to do…which made him worry about just who was in charge of the country right now. "Dare I ask who's taken up the mantel of PM in this time to crisis?"

"…"

"Eye?"

"_You're really not going to like it." _The Operator informed him, sounding incredibly nervous being the one to tell him the apparently very bad news. There was a deep breath on the other end of the line before the Operator said as flatly, and also as quickly, as possible. _"It's Joseph Greene."_

"_WHAT?!" _Joseph Greene?! The guy in charge of monitoring sugar quality in outgoing sweets to the continent was acting Prime Minister? Oh this was officially the worst day of his life!

Taking a deep breath, Kaullus got himself back under control and thought for a second recalling everything Shadow had been able to send them in his tenure at Number 10, including a full copy of the British Isles' Emergency Protocols concerning an alien invasion. The Doctor wouldn't be able to contain himself amongst that much domesticity for much longer, which meant he was going to have a look for himself at the recovered pilot. Truth be told he was a bit interested himself but that wasn't the point. If the Doctor was going to run off, then he was going to be careless coming back. He was going to get noticed and then all kinds of crap was going to go down, culminating with him being red-flagged by the officials. If Kaullus remembered correctly, in the event of the Emergency Protocols being activated, software would be activated in tandem programmed to seek out keywords – specifically, 'Blue Box' 'TARDIS' and of course, 'The Doctor.' Any two of those three together would result in the Doctor ending up at Downing Street. And if he had his way, Kaullus would be right there with him.

"Right then, Eye," he said after coming to his decision "here's what I want you to do: I need you to contact our infiltrators in the police, put them in the armed teams, get intelligence people on the inside. I want to have people I can contact that I can trust, inside 10 Downing Street, in one hour."

"_Will do, sir…" _The Operator trailed off after that, something having caught his attention. Kaullus was about to call back when he got the stunned voice of his contact again. _"Guardian, we just got the results from Pioneer's scans."_

"And?" He asked, steeling himself for the worst.

"_You were right…they're a match." _

_Brilliant. _Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kaullus took a deep breath and then let it all flow out again. So this had all been planned. _Well, I still want to have a look at that alien they've got in the hospital_. With any luck it might give him an idea of what sort of menace they were up against this time. _Why can't they ever come here just to sightsee? _Then again, the last alien that came just to visit ended up destroying a Henrik's store, breaking Jackie's old coffee table, stealing Rose away later that night, and coming back with his new companion a year late, thus responsible for all the pictures of Rose at her eighteenth being dotted around the estate. One such notice he tugged off a nearby pillar and had a look over – it wasn't exactly what he'd call catching her at her best, there was a bit of a drunk hue in her cheeks, but she was happy and enjoying herself so that was something. There had been a time when he thought she'd never smile again, regardless that he knew where she would eventually end up…

He just stayed there, memories of the last nineteen years filling his mind, for the next little while and only pulled out of it when he heard Jackie's door being opened and shut quickly. Looking up, Kaullus smirked as the Doctor headed his way. "You lasted longer in there than I thought you would." He praised, tongue in cheek.

However the Doctor just ignored him, blustering past undoubtedly on his way to the TARDIS. And he might've gotten away with it too if it weren't for that pesky Rose popping her head out the door right behind him. "And where d'you think you're going?"

_Caught red-handed! Ha!_

It was with effort and strength of will that he didn't know he possessed that Kaullus didn't burst out laughing right there as the Doctor turned back around guiltily. "Nowhere!" He claimed defensively, indicating the apartment he'd just left, "It's…just a bit human in there for me. History happened and they're talking about where to buy dodgy top-up cards for half-price." Though if her raised eyebrow was anything to go by, Kaullus would say that sort of answer wasn't going to fly this time. Nevertheless the Doctor stuck to his story, shrugging a little bit with an air of innocence, "I'm off on a wander, that's all."

"Right," her tone reflected just how much she believed him, "there's an alien spaceship floating on the Thames and you're just wandering." But it wasn't just the Doctor she was targeting as she turned her focus to Kaullus, who'd been content to stay silent. "And what about you, Mr Every-man? What're you doing skulking around out here?"

"Would you believe me if I said I came out here for a fag?" Honestly he'd been trying to cut back, but this last year had been a taxing one. From the look Rose gave him though, he'd have to guess that that excuse would go over about as well as the Doctor's claims of just wandering off for a bit. "Look there's nothing wrong," _not yet _"I just wanted a bit of time to myself." Oh he hated the lying, but frankly he suspected the Doctor wasn't about to let her come along for the check-up for the exact same reasons he didn't want her along – she'd been gone long enough, now was the time to stop and take a breather.

However that still didn't seem to be enough for her as she pointed back inside, "Bit rich, seeing as you're the house favourite." She commented, relating to his popularity with all of her mum's friends…who had somewhere down the line become his friends too.

But Kaullus just shrugged. "Stick in one place for twelve months and you're bound to talk to people somewhere down the line." Ooh and now he was using guilt on her – that card might not work on this Doctor, but it always worked on her. Now that he felt a bit rotten, he quickly decided to deflect before they could go any further on _that _particular topic. "Anyway, why does an alien vessel showing up have to immediately equal invasion?"

"As much as it pains me to agree with Mr Poet here," and going by the twisted look on the Doctor's face, it really did hurt him to admit it, "he's right. Nothing fishy there, none of my business to poke around in." – _Like that's ever stopped you before – _"That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything!" If you didn't know what to look for, you'd think the Doctor really was as happy as he looked and sounded. "It's perfect!"

_But just that bit too perfect. Right, Old Man?_

However, the Doctor gave nothing away as he continued his placating speech, "So maybe this is it!" He exclaimed excitedly to Rose, "First contact! The day that mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering, 'cos you've got to handle this on your own."

"The way you say it, it's as if this whole thing is a rite of passage for the human race." Kaullus couldn't help but note how that last line had been worded and said. As if a parent was giving their uncertain child the courage to take that next big step into adulthood.

Shrugging, the Doctor nodded, "Well you could see it like that, 'cos this is where humanity finally grows up, starts seeing the bigger picture." He grinned at Rose again, "Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay! Now you can expand!"

_Did he just make a dig at Prometheus? _Kaullus found himself smiling despite himself at the Doctor's ability to take one of the old stories of their creation and systematically insult it whilst still sounding all impressive and enthusiastic. An ability that worked on her, it seemed, because she was now smiling along with him.

Satisfied with his work, the Doctor nodded back at the apartment again, "You don't need me for that – go on in and celebrate history! Spend some time with your mum." And there was the underlying guilt at having brought her home _very_ much later than he'd intended poking through. That seemed to do the trick – if he was the sounding of guilt then she was the image of it.

Still, Rose wouldn't be Rose if she didn't press the Doctor – and himself, Kaullus considered – to make a guarantee that he'd show up. So as he turned away to carry on again, there was no surprise from the silent third member of the conversation when she called out to him "Promise you won't disappear on me?"

It astounded Kaullus how he always seemed to turn up for the big historical moments for these two. Reapers in 1987, Jack Harkness in 1941, John Smith 1913, and now he was witnessing another one as the Doctor started patting down his jacket, looking for something. Finding what he was looking for, he reached into his inside pockets and pulled out a little brass something on a silver chain, "Tell you what," he said, handing it over to Rose, "TARDIS key. 'Bout time you had one." Grinning at her one more time, the Doctor bid her a cheerful 'See ya later!' and then dashed off.

As for the remaining pair, Kaullus took the time to go over the event and found it to be rather…anti-climactic. _Why is it always like that with these two?! _Still, he had to grin at the little chuffed smile playing on Rose's lips as she fiddled with the key a bit. His smile didn't go unnoticed and she graced him with a little blush. "What?"

"Oh nothing." He replied knowingly, before laughing as that blush went a little bit redder. Taking pity on he, he nodded back at the apartment. "He's got the right of it. Go spend some time with Jackie, play a hand or two with the kids. I'll be back inside in a bit."

Eyeing him suspiciously for a moment, Rose finally relented and headed back inside, though her attention was quickly drawn back to the key in her hand, the chain he suspected she was already putting around her neck. The moment he was sure she was right back inside, Kaullus ran after the Doctor and quickly found him jogging down the stairs to the courtyard. Ignoring the Doctor ignoring him, he quickly slowed down to match his pace. "So, not just off on a wander I'd say."

"Brilliant deduction, Lewis."

"Funny, Morse." Rolling his eyes as the infuriating Time Lord became his infuriating…self, Kaullus just sighed and went on. "So, heading over to the hospital are we?"

"'We' are?" The Doctor asked shortly, eyeing him with a look that said very plainly 'stop following me around.' Kaullus wasn't sure why he bothered though, if it hadn't worked on him a year ago, and it hadn't worked on Rose what was probably a few days ago, did he really expect it to work now?

Biting back the want to be snide, he just continued his line of thought. "There's something off with this whole thing, I know you've noticed, and you're off to have a look at that patient in Albian." They got off the stairs and pushed open the double-doors to the courtyard in unison,* neither one breaking stride with each other. It seemed the Powell Estate were getting right into the spirit of welcoming their off-world tourists, a shop window having been covered over by what looked suspiciously like a bed sheet with the words _ELLO E.T. _written on it in giant black-inked capitals. The Doctor did a double-take at the sight of it, though not long enough to lose focus. In the flats, there was more than one party going on, their own banners flown out over the balconies _(THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED. WELCOME TO OUR WORLD.)_.

One particularly sloshed resident caught sight of the pair of them and called out to them. "Oy gorgeous!" She slurred, "Come back and join the party!"

"She's got a good eye." Kaullus couldn't help mentioning, grinning a bit.

But beside him the Doctor scoffed, "She was talking to me."

"Ha! With those ears?"

And the old argument – for him at least – started up again, all the way to the TARDIS doors where the Aston still sat waiting. For a moment Kaullus considered taking the car, but he quickly dismissed the idea when he figured that, if the Doctor wanted, he could be there and back before anyone realised the TARDIS had vanished. It was a time machine after all. Therefore, resolving to take time-travel over car-travel, he pulled the big wooden doors open as the Doctor tried to lock him out. "The instructions are very clear," he stated, "they say '_Pull_ to open.'"

"I've saved civilisations and brought down dictatorships on worlds that you've never even heard of," the Doctor replied testily as they both walked up to the console "I think I've earned the right to open the doors any way I like."

"Tell that to her." He would've gone on, but Kaullus had grabbed the scanner first and so had a better look at what was going on outside. What had distracted him came in the form of one Mickey Smith who was running towards the TARDIS. _He wouldn't…_He glance back up at the Doctor and then reminded himself exactly which one he was dealing with. _Oh, he totally would._ The time-rotor began to rise and fall, the engines grinding and whirring – he always left the bloody brakes on – and the TARDIS began to dematerialise.

And it just coincided that, as she vanished completely, Mickey – who was running for all he was worth, shouting for the Doctor – ran right through her and into the hard corrugated iron that had been hidden behind it. The impact was so great that it sent him flying back and smacking into the concrete floor beneath him and for all Kaullus knew that might have knocked him out. Looking up, he could've sworn there was the shadow of a devious smirk touching the Doctor's lips. Sighing he asked him bluntly, "Did you really have to do that?"

The Doctor, of course, had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

* * *

**A/N:** *I know that the flats don't actually have double doors, but I thought the image of them walking out together would look good. License to be creative, all I'm sayin. Wow..that was a bit mean of me at the end wasn't it? Anyway, Rose has her key, the Doctor has an address, and Kaullus is friends with Jackie's friends and good with kids, who knew? Anyway, they're off to see the piggy, so Kaullus will get some time in his military persona again. The Slitheen are closing in, taking out Blaire and the cabinet, Asquith next - and the identity of Shadow remains undisclosed...any ideas what his cover is?  
The poll concerning what to do about the interludes is still up. Vote, pleeeeeaase!


	17. Sighted

**A/N:** Right, when we last left off, the Doctor was subjected to the horrors of everyday life! Run! Cower in fear! Beware the terrors of normalcy! Rose looked on in joy at his inability to handle a kid nicking his remote. And Kaullus surprised them both by one, being on good terms with all of Jackie's friends, and two, being good with kids. Is there a story there? Probably – wait for a bit, I'll get to it. Anyway, Kaullus now has confirmation that Pioneer picked up the same ship as the one that just 'crashed' and has been informed that the PM is missing – as if Blaire's popularity needed any more bashing at this point. After giving Rose a TARDIS key, he and the Doctor have now gone off to Albian hospital to have a look at the alien.  
(Insert master-esque laughing here) And so it passed, on (insert date here), that the BBC did cease to exist. But still the readers could not grasp their greater role in events, for this was more than just a TV Network's end. This was the day that all of Television would change! This was the day the Whovians revolted.  
For Doctor Who! For Victory! For the End of Broadcasting itself!  
*pushes detonation switch…*  
Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be a BBC-shattering kaboom!  
Fine I'll do the disclaimer: Doctor Who is the property of BBC Wales…though if I have my way it will soon be privately owned by me and me alone!

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**Sighted**

It also turned out that the Doctor hadn't gotten any better at flying the TARDIS as the pair of them got thrown around. Rubbing his head, Kaullus tried to figure out for the thousandth time how a man who'd piloted this ship for a millennium could still cause this much turbulence! Over on the other side of the console, the Time Lord in question was darting about, twisting nobs and flicking levers that – without consulting his link through the TARDIS – Kaullus could honestly say were completely foreign to him. If this didn't get better soon, he would open said link and fly the ship himself! This couldn't be any more fun for the Old Girl either, now that he thought about it.

And then the Doctor pulled out a mallet.

_Oh not on your lives! _If he'd been thinking through the bond, the poor TARDIS might have initiated an emergency landing as Kaullus pulled himself back onto his feet. Fully incensed, he opened up his connection to the TARDIS and called out to her _'He's going to use the mallet! I know you hate it when he uses the mallet, so you'd better give me the reigns!' _The suggestive thought that slammed right into him, even before he finished his message, told him just how ready she was to let him do the rest of the flying, his head snapping towards the console. Letting his legs just be guided by the TARDIS as she fed him instructions, Kaullus shoved a very protesting Doctor out of the way and got straight to work.

"You are pathetic!" He shouted over the grinding whirrs of the Old Girl as he tried to equalise her out again, starting by taking the brakes _off. _Then he ran around to the helmic regulator – that thing always seemed to play up no matter what configuration she was in – and fed it two slow pumps before running back to the Doctor, pulling the scanner around with him, and shoved him back down as he tried to take the controls back.

At the attempt, Kaullus glared openly at him "All these years you've been flying around inside her and you never bothered to actually learn to fly her right?!" Okay, maybe he'd opened the link a bit too far, he wasn't sure why he was getting this upset with him really. It was as if the TARDIS was shouting at the Doctor through him…which would explain why he wanted to go and find a frying pan, he'd already hit the big-eared idiot today. Shaking off that weird thought, he turned back to the console and reached out to stroke the central rotor a bit. He'd done all he could for her, she wasn't sending him any more instructions so all he could do now was his own bit. "Come on now," he whispered gently, closing up his link to her "just a little bit further."

It turned out, once more, that the Doctor really didn't like being upstaged inside of his own ship as he quickly leapt back up and knocked him aside. "No one asked you for your take on flying it!" He snapped, pulling at levers that now once again meant nothing to Kaullus. "And I can fly _my _TARDIS just fine!"

"Oh yeah?" He asked, re-opening his link just a little bit, and pointed at a couple of little toggle switches right underneath the Doctor's rambling hands. "Then why haven't you turned on the stabilisers?"

"What're you on about? She doesn't have stabilisers!"

_Well she's telling me that she does and that you've never used them once in your life! _Was what Kaullus wanted to shout, but instead he tried again, pointing once more at the switches that the Doctor was still blatantly _not seeing! Whoa…_he closed the link a little bit…_need to be careful there._ Shaking off the odd feelings, he just got back to the point, "Those rusty switches! Right there by your hand!"

"Eh?" And finally the Doctor looked down at the controls and the little switches. At the sight of them he just scoffed and went back to it. "Those things don't do anything," he told him knowingly, "they're just there. Bit rusty, though, could do with a polish."

_Count from ten…thousand…_ Sighing in frustration that Kaullus was entirely convinced was coming from both him and the TARDIS, he shoved the Doctor out of the way again. "Yes they're _rusty!" _He barked out in annoyance, "They're the rusty _stabilisers!"_ And without giving the alien a chance to stop him, he flicked the toggle switches down. The moment he did the entire ride smoothed out, the whirring fading away to a more pleasant hum and the lighting even improved a bit. Smirking, Kaullus turned to give the stunned Doctor one of his better smug looks. "See?" His work done, he sauntered over to the battered captain's chair and flopped down into it, stretching his legs out but respectively _not_ putting his feet on the console.

He didn't have long to relax though as the giant figure of a rapidly growing more annoyed by the minute Doctor suddenly loomed over him. "That's three times you've managed that now." He stated bluntly, his blue eyes telling Kaullus that he wouldn't be moving until he got some answers. "How do you know how to fly the TARDIS?"

Of course he couldn't honestly tell him the whole truth, but a little white lie wouldn't go remiss. Kaullus therefore shrugged, "How does anyone learn anything? I was given lessons," and he might have given away who gave them as he glanced up at the Time Rotor, "from the very best." By the way the Doctor faltered, it was clear that he'd come to the conclusion that _he _did the teaching. _As if, _Kaullus scoffed, taking the opportunity to jump back onto his feet. Though he couldn't resist telling him, "She still thinks you're a horrid pilot by the way."

A gentle thud announced their landing, much to the Doctor's surprise at the lack of a noise to tell them – if he wasn't going to listen then Kaullus wasn't going to bother telling him what it meant – and as such Kaullus was the first out…running headlong into the metal bars of a supply trolley and falling on his back. Evidently the TARDIS had landed them in a supply cupboard.

The Doctor's laughter was not appreciated at all as the Time Lord swaggered past him. Rolling his eyes, he got back up and followed the Doctor out, the two of them meandering their way around the obstacle until they made it to the door.

"Can't you just wait in the TARDIS?" The Doctor asked petulantly as he got out his sonic screwdriver. His attention was returned to the object as, when he pressed the switch it gave off a bit of a loud hum. "Shush, you!" He whispered at it fiercely.

Refraining the urge to facepalm, Kaullus shoved him out of the way, "Evidently I can't," he observed, pulling out his own screwdriver and turning on the dampers. The result was a much quieter hum as he held the red emitter up to the door handle. "Don't give me that face," he chastised, catching the Doctor looking at his screwdriver with envy, "if you want one like mine just make one. You made that one didn't you?" He nodded at the slim blue-tipped instrument still in the Doctor's hand.

Any return remark by the Doctor was cut short as the screwdriver finished its work, a satisfying click of the lock turning announcing Kaullus' success. Choosing to let his actions relay his smugness, he pocketed the sonic backed away from the door and offered it to the put out Time Lord, adding in an exaggerated flourish. The Doctor looked at him with completely furious scathing eyes before marching ahead of him, his own screwdriver going back into its home in his leather jacket, and turning the handle of the unlocked cupboard door. Envy and smugness were both drained from their expressions though, as when he did open the door it revealed what had to be a waiting room…with twenty or so men in military dress, the red beret and winged badge signifying their UNIT designation, all of them chatting and laughing together. All of whom stopped when they noted the two new additions that had just stepped out of the storage cupboard.

For a moment, no one said anything as one group looked at the other.

Then the UNIT personnel sprang into action, their rifles that had been either placed down on a bench or slung over their shoulders finding new homes in their bearers' hands, and suddenly Kaullus and the Doctor found themselves with twenty odd gun barrels being shoved in their faces.

_Ah, the traditional warm welcome._

Despite the situation, or maybe because of it, Kaullus could never tell, the Doctor found it in him to grin at the stern-faced, suspicious soldiers all now pointing projectile weapons at him. "Mr. Poet," he said brightly, "you can fly the TARDIS _so well."_

_Now?! _Kaullus found himself desperate to shout. _He's going to bring that up now?! _This wasn't the time to be arguing over who could fly the TARDIS better! (It was him of course) They had UNIT personnel pointing guns at them and, unlike any other military division this side of the Atlantic, this lot couldn't be bought off by a simple swipe of the psychic paper. _Okay, think Neuvo, there's not that many. I could probably bring down the first three, might get a few holes in me but that'd be nothing new. Then I could take down the seven behind them and, if Mr Happy here decides he likes living, he'll break out some of that Venusian Aikido_ _on the two to the right…_but that still left the other nine or so who would then gun the Doctor down…_alright, new strategy…but I can't think of one. Dammit! This always happens when I work under pressure!_ It didn't matter though, no one had shot anyone yet so he still had time to think of another way out of this…

It turned out that he wouldn't need to though as a woman's screams somewhere in the complex had everyone's heads turning. The Doctor's smile melted away at the sound and, immediately taking charge, he shunted through the soldiers towards the door, "Defence pattern Delta!" He barked to them, "Come on! Move, move!"

Even as he gave out orders Kaullus was coming up on his right flank, pulling his Beretta free and repeating the Doctor's orders. "Well come on, you heard him! Get to it!" Those who hadn't responded the first time now did, bringing the entire squad on their back as he and the Doctor tore down the corridors in the direction of the scream.

Blasting their way into the mortuary, Kaullus immediately noted the open door of a cold storage chamber. _Looks like our new friend is already awake. _He thought to himself as he inspected the linen, though he found no trace of any sort of biological residue that the screwdriver could've analysed. A terrified gasp behind him had his gun up and pointing in the opposite direction, though he lowered it when he saw a woman with auburn hair and glasses, wearing a white lab coat and hiding behind a table.

Upon seeing them she uttered out a horrified cry. "It's alive!" She breathed out, "Oh my god, it's still alive." The Doctor broke away from them instantly, kneeling down by her side to try and calm her. The soldiers just stood there, unsure of what to do now with the two of them.

However, Kaullus had a few things that they could be getting on with. "Spread out!" He barked at them, six hundred years of leading the Elite Corps coming through, "Inform the perimeter and then lock down! Go through every room on every floor! It can't have gotten far. When you find it I want it incapacitated." His words held experience, and it was clear that some of the soldiers recognised that in him. Nevertheless, others were still staring at him in confusion, not knowing what to make of either of them. Deciding to pull an old trick, Kaullus put on an absolutely furious glare and bellowed at the lot of them, "What're you still doing here?! Move out!"

His added shout did the job, every last soldier, save one who he instructed to guard the door to the mortuary, ran out of the room. They were then treated to the sound of banging doors open and guns being brought to bear before one of them shouted 'clear!' and moved on to the next room. Frankly though, Kaullus wasn't all that interested as he went back to the open storage chamber. Nothing, not one single scrap that he could use to trace back to the creature that had been lying here. That told him two things: One, what had been here had to have been completely covered up. And two, whoever had planned to put whatever had been lying here in the ship in the first place really didn't want anything getting out. _But why? What've they got to hide?_

The pitched breathing from the examination room got his attention and he turned back to the doctor whom the Doctor –_ wow, that's going to get confusing – _was knelt beside, her hands in his larger ones. After a moment, regaining her wits, she told him "I swear it was dead."

"Coma" He waved off, "shock, hibernation. Could've been anything, what does it look like?" He was denied an answer however, as something crashed behind him and he whirled around. "It's still here." He glanced up at Kaullus, who nodded in response.

He glanced at the soldier he'd left guarding the door and gave him a quick 'psst!' Nodding inside the examination room. The soldier got his meaning and walked in as quietly as he could. The Doctor had already started inching around the room, looking for the source of the noise, and when he caught sight of the new addition he gestured for him to set up a line of sight at the other end of the examination table. Not waiting to see if he complied, Kaullus left the man's side and joined the Doctor, kneeling down with his Beretta held ready if he needed it.

Another rattle from the far side of the room caused both him and the Doctor to freeze, the latter of them going properly onto his knees now as he just very gradually edged around the table. Right alongside him, Kaullus cupped the grip of his pistol with his free hand and moved just a little bit ahead of him, eyes trained on the other side of the room for anything suspicious. And then, something popped its head out from the far side of the table – first two wiggly ears, followed by a pear-shaped head and a big fat snout as well as two beady eyes. The creature looked at them both and gave out a petrified squeak. It was a pig.

_What the hell?! _

If he was startled then the Doctor was the exact opposite, smiling at it as if he'd been expecting something along these lines. "Hello!" He greeted it happily.

However 'hello' must translate into something else in pig, something horrifying, because the animal suddenly retreated, squealing in terror and darting back out the other way. Instinct took Kaullus over and he pulled up, training his gun on the animal at the same time that the UNIT soldier took aim as well. The Doctor's order not to shoot it however halted both of them and the pig ran past them both, on only its hind legs, unharmed. For a moment Kaullus stared after the creature, completely stunned, before shaking himself out of his stupor and holstering his weapon. Things just got a whole lot more complicated.

_We need it alive. _He thought to himself as he followed the Doctor out of the mortuary and down the corridor, listening to the pigs frightened wails as it ran about. Wails that were suddenly cut short following the loud rapport of a rifle going off a few seconds ahead of them. _No! _Blasting into the main corridor showed him exactly what he'd feared. The pig was lying on its back, forearms splayed above it, hooves drooping downward, and snorting weakly.

His eyes found the gun that had shot it down, followed the gun to the hands that held it, then followed down the hands, up the arms and rested furiously on the face of the soldier that was now looking up from his kill. The murderous shrieking in his head was beaten by the Doctor's own fury.

"What did you do that for?!" He shouted at the fool, who wisely stepped away from the pig as they approached. "It was scared!"

The Doctor's outlet gave Kaullus an excuse to let out his own as he advanced on the retreating soldier "I said incapacitated!" He yelled at him, coming to stand over the pig and pointing at it, "Does that look 'incapacitated' to you?! If so, you'd better find a new line of work!" Not bothering to see if he'd gotten through to the deaf idiot, he knelt down next to the pig, opposite the Doctor who was stroking it gently, easing it into slumber. The poor creature let out a final chugged snort before it finally succumbed, breathing its last.

_A waste of time…_ was the mantra in his head as he pulled out his sonic and scanned it over the animal, confirming its deceased status. _This whole trip was a complete waste of our time…_Or maybe not, as it turned out. The screwdriver was picking up unusual amounts of cerebral activity, even after the pig's life had faded. Activity that shouldn't even be found in a pig…_Then again, Legend of Zelda aside, I've never seen a pig that walked on two feet before._ In fact it seemed almost artificial…

_No…oh no, don't tell me. _The trip hadn't been a waste of time after all. But that didn't mean that what he'd now learned made him any happier about their chances. If anything, what he'd learned just made him angry with their faceless aggressors. Turning off the sonic, Kaullus looked the Doctor dead in the eye. "This is a mermaid, isn't it?"

* * *

Tahkaullus' terminology was more accurate than anything anyone else could've come up with. And his anger at this realisation was mirrored in the Doctor as they laid the remains out on top of the examination table where Doctor Toshiko Sato was now standing, her senses recovered, intent on examining the now very dead pig. When they delivered that piece of information she was flummoxed. Nevertheless she again quickly recovered herself as she properly looked over the still animal, dressed in a stupidly designed, horridly fitting flight outfit that was probably made out of throwaway stuff found on Earth.

"I just assumed that that's what aliens might look like," she admitted, looking as if she was calling herself foolish for making such an assumption, "but you're saying it's just an ordinary pig. From Earth?" Again there was that notion that she was beating herself up. Not that she needed to, there were species out there that looked like this, but any chances of them being able to fly to Earth, at this point in time, with a ship that small, as well as considering just how far they'd have to come, that couldn't be what this was.

"He coined the right phrase," he nodded at Tahkaullus who was pacing up and down the corridor in the mortuary, looking incredibly flustered "it's more like a mermaid."

When he saw that Dr Sato didn't understand he elaborated "Victorian showmen used to draw the crowds by sticking the body of a fish to the skull of a cat and calling it a mermaid." And going by what he'd seen off the readings of Tahkaullus' screwdriver, he'd have to say that this was exactly the same thing going on here: A hoax. And that was infuriating. "Now someone's taken an ordinary pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on…" he felt himself grinding his jaw as he looked down at the outcome of this sick venture "and then they stuck it in that ship and made it divebomb. It must have been terrified."

"Well" The hard edged voice from the corridor brought his attention to Tahkaullus who had come to a halt by the doorway, glaring furiously at the animal "I was never a big fan of Victorian showmen. They've taken an innocent creature and turned it into the butt of their joke." There was a finality in that tone that the Doctor remembered hearing whilst standing over the Nestene Consciousness as he'd listed off his 'rights of defence' whatever they were. It brooked no argument or justification and, as Tahkaullus stormed away down the corridor, the Doctor was eerily reminded of how, after Arcadia fell, his previous self had declared that he would exterminate the Dalek Emperor himself…it was a tone that would allow no mercy.

Nevertheless, he had what he'd come to find out from this place, even if what he'd learned had turned his stomach, there was no reason for either of them to stick around. Therefore he left Dr Sato to her deliberations and theories and went in search of the man who, right now, looked like he was mentally preparing himself for war. He wasn't too hard to find, himself heading back the way they'd come towards the TARDIS, glaring at the soldier who had shot the pig a final time as he stalked past him, leather duster whipping behind him. Frankly the Doctor believed him justified in his anger at the man and took a moment to shoot him a glare himself before following Tahkaullus through the cupboard door, the supply trolley having been pulled out and shoved aside by the angry redhead, and through the TARDIS doors.

For a moment neither said anything, just stood around the console, trying to work out what to do next. Whilst they had learned that this most assuredly was _not_ an accidental landing, and that the patient was most assuredly _not_ an alien, that had been the scale of their success. They had no leads left to work with, nothing to point them where to go next.

Until Tahkaullus volunteered a piece of information, that is, "I've been tracking a non-terrestrial emission trail for a few weeks now." He told him shortly, hands still in his pockets, face devoid of the cheeky grin he usually had on around him. "Nearly had it nailed down a few days ago until it flat out vanished…until today that is."

If he expected him to say anything he was in for a disappointment, the Doctor just folded his arms and waited for him to continue. After a moment of silence, he did. "I would have been checking this out even if you hadn't turned up today. Because that ship matches the emissions of the one I've been looking for."

So he'd been expecting trouble all along, the Doctor had just been a…taxi service. No, worse than that, he'd been a distraction. Him and Rose.

Doubtless, he must have been running himself ragged looking for the source of that alien emission, going backwards and forwards for days on end without result. And then suddenly, out of the blue – quite literally – the two of them showed up and his whole focus changed. Suddenly the matter of a possible alien threat got side-lined and all of his energy was spent with them – punching out the Doctor, playing detective, telling stories, dashing into town and then out of town to get the scoop on an alien ship, watching the telly and playing with children – when he could have been defending the Earth. No wonder he'd declined the offer to travel with them. They really did hold life and death power over this man, didn't they?

The Doctor was reminded of the rather chilling tale Tahkaullus had told him on top of the Powell Estate and he was once again asking why this man put so much stock in him. Clearly both him and Rose must have done something in his past, their future, to garner his respect for them…the question was, what was it, and why did he seem almost indebted to them?

_Whatever it is, _the part of him still focussed on the mission spoke up,_ it doesn't have anything to do with current affairs._ That thought kicked the rest of him into gear and the Doctor walked around the console and started it up. Regardless of why he was being told this now, and regardless of the matter that he couldn't fathom Tahkaullus being able to track a slipstream emission by himself, it was at least something to go on. But first they needed to make a layby.

He needed Rose to balance the three of them out. Right now, the amount of loyalty, coupled with the absolute fury that Tahkaullus was giving off, was absolutely terrifying for the Doctor to behold.

* * *

Rose's evening had gone from dull to the pits, there was no other way to put it. If the Doctor had expected her to spend time bonding with her mother then he very clearly had no experience dealing with furious mothers. All these people here for the big celebration of aliens finally landing, it was a good cover, but for one who'd seen this sort of party time and again over the years, she knew it for what it was. Jackie had all her friends over so that she wouldn't _have _to speak to her. It was the second stage of fury after exploding at her; call up as many people she knew as she could to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. The silent disappointment.

It was definitely effective as she remained sat deep in the confines of the armchair that the Doctor had been sat in earlier, twiddling her new key around in her fingers. What had she been thinking letting him wander off like that? _Better question is, why didn't I go 'off on a wander' with him? _Surely whatever he and Kaullus – she wasn't stupid enough to think he was coming back in, he'd been outside for an hour now – were doing, it had to be more fun than this.

Jackie came back in with a newly filled wine glass, crowing out in delight at the great occasion. "Alright you lot!" She called out to her guests, grinning that bit wider grin that anyone who knew her knew that she was playing up the glee. "We have a bunch of strangers out on the Thames right now and I think we ought'a welcome them proper." There was a loud shout of agreement – or was that appeasement? Rose could never be sure when it came to her mother's guilt parties – raising their glasses in tandem. Beaming at the response from her audience, Jackie raised her glass as well, "Right then! Here's to the Martians!"

"The Martians!" The whole apartment, bar one, shouted right back. And all Rose could think about was how they didn't even know if these aliens were from Mars. Shouldn't they have found something by now if they were? They'd been sending probes up to that planet for years now and never found anything. Why was Mars always the one people quoted when it came to aliens anyway?

_Has to be that War of The Worlds thing. _She thought to herself ruefully, remembering seeing the vinyl record of the musical version in the window of a shop years ago. Great big three-legged robots shooting lasers at British ships…the Doctor had probably seen something like that happen somewhere down the line, and Kaullus would probably be around there somewhere doing whatever it was he did when they didn't see him.

_God, what am I still doing here?! _Rose felt like shouting, not sure when it was that normal things like parties and television and her mum's friends all staring at her like she was some broken treasure had become too little for her. But that was a lie – she knew exactly when it had happened. A man in a battered leather jacket had grabbed her hand and told her to run, and then another man with mad red hair and a black leather duster had knelt down next to her and effectively put the fate of the world in her hands. How could she go back after that?

Deciding that enough was enough, Rose made to get out of the armchair. Maybe she could sneak down to the TARDIS and wait for them there. And it was only now that she noticed how quiet the living room had become. Confused, wondering if they were all looking at her, she glanced up at Howard who was sat in the armchair across from her. He wasn't looking at her, in fact no one was. They were all looking behind them at something else, a bit of a nervous awkward air seeming to have descended upon them all. Now properly curious, Rose peered around as well, what was everyone looking at?

When she saw what, or rather _who,_ had caught everyone's attention, she leapt out of the chair immediately, noticing a little guiltily how Mickey's gaze just followed her in stunned silence – as if he hadn't expected her to be there. "I was gonna come and see you…" But she trailed off, not even believing her own words. First it was just going to be a quick check in with her mum, and then she found out she was a year late, as well as seeing a spaceship fly over the estate…she hadn't had much time to think about Mickey.

"Someone," Marianna stated firmly, looking about the living room "owes Mickey an apology."

And she did, she most definitely did. "I'm sorry." Even saying them out loud didn't feel right. He was still looking at her, stunned off his arse at the sight of her.

But Marianna just shook her head, "Not you." Though there was some affirmation there for at least saying it. And then she looked at Jackie, along with everyone else.

And now it was her mum's turn to look flustered as all eyes that had once been cheering graciously suddenly turned expectant of her. However, Jackie Tyler wasn't one to just hand out apologies…for anything. "Well it's not my fault." She claimed firmly, giving Mickey a look "Be fair what was I supposed to think?"

_Not her fault for thinking what? _Great, now there was another story about the year she missed that was about to be told, and this one involved her mum and her boyfriend. Granted Jackie didn't exactly like Mickey anyway, despite him trying his best around her, but it sounded like this was a lot more than just motherly disapproval. Sighing as she watched her mum go into the kitchen, knowing that another blow out was coming, Rose made her way through the tense crowd and passed Mickey, who finally snapped out of his stupor as she walked through the doorway, prompting him to follow her in.

Jackie was already sat down on the stool in there, with a similar look of resignation as to what was coming as Mickey stepped inside. She even looked like she was about to utter something that amounted to an apology, when he cut her off sharply. "I don't think so, you said your piece all year. My turn now. As for you!" And suddenly he whirled on Rose, anger finally letting loose, "You disappear – who do they turn to? Your boyfriend. Five times, I was taken into questioning. Five times!" He held up all five digits of his left hand, emphasising the five. "No evidence, 'course there couldn't be, could there? And then I get her!" He pointed at Jackie who just huffed and looked away.

_Oh hell. _Right now, guilt and shame at her mother were warring with Rose as Mickey went on. _Mum, what did you do?_

"Whispering round the estate!" He answered for her, "Pointing her finger, stuff through my letterbox and all 'cos of you."

And once again she was back to this morning, unable to get a good answer or reason out for why she'd been missing for so long. Granted Mickey knew a bit more than her mum, but only that the Doctor was an alien and had his own time machine. He knew absolutely nothing about Kaullus and his part in everything. So once again she was left with just saying, "I didn't think I'd be gone so long."

"And I waited for you Rose!" He snapped at her, dejection and betrayal coming through – like a little lost puppy. "Twelve months! Waiting for you and the Doctor to come back."

"Hold on!" Jackie's attention was suddenly full again at the drop of that name, "You knew about the Doctor?!" She all but demanded, getting out of her seat completely flustered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

_Oh no…_Mickey might not know much about the Doctor, but he'd had to wait for a year for her to come back. In that time he had to have looked him up, after all it had only taken Rose a couple of hours before she was looking for him herself. Clive had found stuff on him and if she was a betting woman, she'd say that was the exact same source Mickey used. He might have even gone looking for Kaullus too, with the time he had. And now her mother had given him an in to tell all. Something he capitulated on.

"Yeah," he stated, a bit smugly, closing the kitchen window when Dennis tried to look in on them, slamming the door shut as well for good measure "Yeah. Why not, Rose? Huh? How could I tell her where you went? Especially with that bloodheaded burke around, playing detective, gettin' into her good graces, keepin' me out. Probably even helped stir up the mob!"

"Thomas?" Her mother's voice sounded disbelieving at that, "What's he got to do with all this?" However the questions from before were stirring up again in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Mickey, "Tell me now!"

He shrugged, looking completely unrepentant "Might as well 'cos you're stick here." He told Rose a little touch of victory in his tone "The Doctor's gone. Just now that box thing just faded away."

_Hold on, what? _What was he going on about? "What d'you mean?"

"He's left you!" He stated bluntly, smirking in satisfaction, "Some boyfriend he turned out to be. Just came to grab his next passenger. That redheaded bloke -" but he could've ranted on all day and Rose wouldn't have listened to any more. On the words 'he's left you' she was already running past him, throwing open the kitchen door startling some of the guests, grabbing her white jacket and hurrying out the front door. Sure enough there was no sign of Kaullus outside, not that she'd expected there to be, he'd probably gone off with the Doctor, seeing a chance to get some more complimentary arguing time with him. Besides Mickey was barking! He'd just said he was going off on a stroll, the whole thing getting to 'human' for him, probably just gone down the chippie for a bit of a snack.

_But he doesn't use money! _A scared little voice in her head reminded her as she ran down the stairs. But that didn't matter – he had the psychic paper, that'd probably cover anything! He and Kaullus were probably standing in line right now, arguing over some silly little thing that had been started up because one of them was ahead of the other in the cue. They wouldn't just leave!

Clearly they just would…the courtyard was empty, save for the Aston Martin that was still parked there, blocking the entrance or exit for anyone else's car. That was something then. Kaullus wouldn't just leave his car lying around. But what if he had hundreds more like it? Could he afford to leave one behind? Rose was struck again by just how little she knew about him other than the fact that he had a penchant for running into them and arguing with – and on the rare occasion, punching out – the Doctor.

And on the subject of the Doctor, the TARDIS was gone with no trace of the blue wooden box in sight.

"But he wouldn't just go." She said out loud, not really speaking to anyone – Mickey and Jackie had followed her out, one of them still looking terribly smug whilst the other was just absolutely confused as to what was going on. But he'd said he was just strolling! Well maybe strolling meant something else to a Time Lord…but he said he'd be right back. "He promised."

The words of an absent man however did nothing to deter Mickey's joyous crowing of victory over his suspicions about the weird alien man. "Ah, he's dumped you, Rose." He delighted snidely, arms folded in male pride "Sailed off into space with his newest fling. How's it feel, huh? Now you are left behind with the rest of us Earthlings. Get used to it!"

"But he would've said." The Doctor wouldn't just give her a key to his ship and then just leave her behind…would he? Like he said, he didn't do families and that apartment had been full to the brim with just that, families and children and laughter. Kaullus showing his ability to handle kids probably didn't help matters.

All of this was circumstantial to her mother though who was looking around, trying to figure out what they were on "What're you two chimps going on about?" She asked them, confused as to why they were all looking at the graffiti-covered iron. "What's going on? What's this Doctor done no- Oh my god!" She pointed at the car, "Is that an Aston? Is that his car?!"

"Eh-heh-heh!" Mickey just chortled, finger wiggling skyward, "No chance, probably that bloodhead's getaway wheels. The Doctor's vamoosed!"

"He's not!" She snapped whirling round on him, sick to death of his bloody male posturing. "'Cos he gave me this!" And she showed him the TARDIS key, though that failed to impress him even in the slightest and he just shrugged, snorting at it. But by now she was fed up with him and just wanted him to back off, "He's not my boyfriend Mickey, he's better than that. He's much more important–" But she cut off as she felt her hand start to get hot and shake a little bit. Looking down at it, she saw that the key still resting there was vibrating and glowing a gentle gold colour. Each time it did, she thought she heard a familiar grinding whirr…

Then the wind started to pick up and her unspoken worries of being left behind faded away as the familiar notes of the TARDIS's engines began to fill the courtyard. An unbidden smile began to form as she started looking around, "I said so." But her looking for the TARDIS brought up another problem as her eyes rested on Jackie. She couldn't see this, if she did then that would be it for sure – forget travelling, Rose would never be allowed outside of the house ever again. Forgetting the Doctor's reappearance for a moment, she rushed over to Jackie's side and tried to push her back towards the flats. "Mum, go inside now!" But it was like her mum had ground to a halt, "Don't stand there, just go inside! Mum! Just…"

But it was all to no avail as the engines became fully audible and behind her the TARDIS reappeared in the very spot it had left, right next to the Aston. And Jackie had witnessed it all, her mouth going completely slack as the blue box fully reappeared and the engines ground to a halt. She looked from the box to her daughter and back again, Rose close to biting her nails off as she turned to face the ship. "How'd you do that then?"

How indeed…crap. Well on the one hand at least her mum now had an idea of what she'd been doing all year.

Any explanations were cut off though as the doors were pushed open and Kaullus stalked out, coattails flying behind him as he went over to his car, the look on his face describable only as 'pure murder.' _Oh great. _As if things weren't bad enough already, the Doctor had gone and said something to completely brass him off. For a moment it looked like he was about to leave, until he walked up to the car bonnet and opened up the hood, seemingly not noticing the three of them standing there, one of whom was staring at him bewildered whilst the other looked like he was gearing up for a fight. Nevertheless he just reached in, grabbed hold of something and started pulling.

Having had enough of being kept out of the loop for one night, Rose broke away from her mum and Mickey and casually walked over to him. He still didn't notice her, face set, eyes on fire. It likely would have been that he wouldn't notice her at all if she hadn't cleared her throat, causing Kaullus to look up furiously at her. Upon seeing who it was however, something in his gaze softened, though his face remained grim. He just nodded at her, "Rose." He greeted flatly, before going back to it.

However seeing her must have made him more aware of his surroundings and he looked up again over her shoulder. "Mickey." He nodded to him and then went back to getting whatever it was he'd come to get out of his car. Then he completely froze in his work and looked back over her shoulder at the _other _person who was standing there. And Rose couldn't be sure but it looked like he gulped a bit nervously when he saw Jackie stood there staring at him. Then he looked back at the TARDIS before looking at Jackie again and then finally settling back on Rose.

"Ah."

That was a bit of an understatement, all things considered, as he finally got what he'd come to get out of the Aston. Glancing at the three of them nervously, Kaullus pulled a grey box out of the car bonnet and closed the hood back down with his free hand. The nerves however vanished as he took a deep breath and fixed Rose with a look of utter defiance. "I call not telling."

Before she could register what he'd said, he'd darted back into the TARDIS. A second later, Rose caught his meaning and, if things weren't already pear-shaped, she suspected she might have tried out her mother's way of dealing with smug gits. Resolving to make him pay for it later, she ran inside after him where the Doctor was stood waiting, his back to the door, staring at the scanner.

"You got it then?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Uh-huh." Kaullus still sounded nervous… "Um…Doctor…I've got good news, and I've got bad news."

"What news? You haven't broken your own thing have you?" He looked around and noted Rose running up to him. Sighing, he rolled his eyes and went back to looking at the screen. "Alright so I lied! I went and had a look, but the whole thing's a fake – I thought so, it's just too perfect." But she wasn't all that concerned as she leaned on the console, glancing back at the two new additions inside the TARDIS. Of course the Doctor hadn't noticed that bit yet, still going on about the apparently fake crash landing, "I mean, hitting Big Ben, come on! So I thought, let's go and have a look an-"

"Uhm…Doctor…" There was Kaullus again as he glanced back at Mickey and Jackie, one glaring at the Doctor's back, the other looking around in horror at the TARDIS. "The bit about Rose is the _good _news."

"Eh?"

And so it fell on Rose to tell him the bad news, "My mum's here."

_That _got his attention and he spun around to face the doors, groaning in annoyance when he saw the two newcomers walking up the ramp. "Oh that's just what I need." He groused, pointing a warning finger at her "Don't you dare make this place domestic!"

_As if I need to be told again? _She thought, her own annoyance at being put on the spot like this coming through. And if that wasn't enough, it looked like Mickey still wanted to make a scene as he started up again. "You ruined my life! The pair of you!" His words got the Doctor turning around, though the sluggish reaction and bored look on his face suggested that this was a complete waste of his time.

Kaullus, however, was much more vocal. "Me?" He pointed at himself, setting the box down on the console. "What did I do?"

Whatever it was he'd done, Mickey conveniently didn't say. He just pointed to Rose again, his riled mind probably going over the last year. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect 'cos of you." His roaming finger then found its way to the Doctor who just rolled his eyes at him.

"You see what I mean?" He asked Rose rhetorically, "Domestic!" As if that signified the end of the conversation, he turned back around and reached for the box.

"Ah! Doctor don't!" Rose's attention was taken away from her increasingly furious boyfriend as Kaullus leapt forward and snatched the small object out of the Doctor's hands. "You don't have clearance!"

"Clearance?" He frowned at him, "It's just a black box."

"Wrong," Kaullus stated, putting the box down again and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "It's a flame box."

_A what? _She'd never heard of anything like that before, was it some sort of new gadget they were using in airliners? She'd heard of black boxes, the little computer things planes used to record all the flight data. Was this the replacement? Her confused look was mirrored on the Doctor's face, so she expected to get an answer pretty soon.

"The principles are the same as a black box," Kaullus answered, seeing their uninformed looks, holding up the box in question, "however if someone who doesn't have clearance to open the flame box tries to open it, any and all data collected is immediately incinerated."

His explanation silenced them for a moment, though the Doctor's silence was probably more to let him get on with his work, whilst Rose's was out of complete shock. What was so important about what Kaullus did that he wanted to make sure that nobody could trace him? One secret more to add to the collection it seemed. "That's a bit…much, isn't it?" She finally ventured to ask.

But he just shrugged, "Nothing wrong with a healthy dose of paranoia."

_Paranoia? _Somehow that didn't ring true to her, it was one thing to have a secret from a couple of people. But when you had a box containing information that you wanted _nobody _to be able to get their hands on, it became something more. He wanted to hide something from the whole world to the extent that he wouldn't even trust them with the information…

A disconcerting notion that was put aside as Mickey rolled up his shoulders a bit and sauntered up the ramp a bit more, even more angry that the three of them just went and forgot about him. "I bet you don't even remember my name!"

Sighing in resignation, figuring correctly that he just wasn't going to go away, the Doctor turned back to him and stated plainly, "Ricky." which confirmed exactly what he'd just been accused of, causing Kaullus to cough over an accidental laugh, though Rose couldn't be sure if he actually didn't remember or if he was just poking fun at Mickey for the hell of it.

Either way it served to rile up the object of possible mockery even further "It's Mickey!" He snapped at the Doctor.

"No," he returned, clearly absolutely certain of – or just having a laugh with – the name he'd used "it's Ricky."

The reaffirmation did nothing to calm Mickey down as he stepped up closer to the Doctor, getting in his face. "I think I know my own name!"

"You _think _you know your own name?" The Doctor chuckled smugly, leaving the console to greet him head on, "Just how stupid are you?"

Oh did he really have to get into this now? Mickey looked like he was about to blow a gasket, and that would spell immediate trouble for him. Kaullus may have punched him out, but Rose had a sneaking suspicion that the Doctor was stronger than he looked. If Mickey didn't back down there was going to be trouble that would result in a lot of broken bones and wounded pride…especially if Kaullus came in on the Doctor's side. So a part of her was glad that her mother was here when Jackie let out a horrified cry, drawing everyone's attention to her.

She wasn't looking around the TARDIS anymore, she'd taken all of that in and was properly mortified over all of the bigger-inside-ness. Her new focus was Kaullus and she just stared at him…or more precisely, the long pointy ears that had suddenly become visible now that they were inside the TARDIS. Her focus left the ears to look at him and the usual welcoming attitude that she'd had around him suddenly vanished, replaced with horror.

"Jackie?" Kaullus suddenly caught on immediately to what she'd realised, but his words got her into gear and she was suddenly running out of the TARDIS. He was right on her tail though, pointing to each one of them as he went by, "You," he pointed at the Doctor, "deflate your ego. You," to Mickey, "don't start something, you'll lose. And you…" He trailed off with her, just kept his finger pointing at her for a few seconds, before sighing and running down the ramp and out the TARDIS doors. "Jackie, wait!"

But her mother either didn't hear him, or didn't want to, as he came back a moment later, empty handed and completely glum. He walked back up the ramp, ignoring Mickey's snort at him, and just leaned his hands on the console, looking for all the world like he wanted to hit something. He let out a loud sigh, allowing the tension in his shoulders to escape and his ears drooped down. "Sometimes," he muttered, indicating the long pointy protrusions, "I really hate these things."

For a while the four of them were silent, Rose remembering how he'd been so welcome and liked by all of her mum's friends. He probably thought that, now that the truth was out, he was going to lose all of that. And the worst part was she didn't know if he wasn't wrong; her mum wasn't xenophobic, but to realise that she might have had an alien – it didn't matter what he said, to Jackie he would probably fall under that category now – in her flat all that time…Rose didn't know how her mother was going to react. Even the Doctor seemed properly sympathetic to him, refraining from making any derogatory remarks about domesticity. They'd both seen him playing with kids for crying out loud! She could tell Mickey wanted to make some smart claim, but she shut him up with a guiltlessly sharp elbow to the ribs.

Eventually he shook it off and picked up the flame box and his sonic screwdriver, and got back to opening it up "Right then, here we go." He stuck the screwdriver's emitter into a small indent on the side and pressed the button. There was a short hum and then the box clicked, opening up to reveal a set on small flashing lights and circuit-boards, all hooked up to a small screen that was relaying data. It looked a bit more complex than what Rose expected to see in a black box, but then she'd never seen one opened up before so she could be wrong.

"So," she tried, noting that the console room still felt a bit tense, "that was a real spaceship right?"

"Yep." The Doctor nodded, taking the now open flame box from Kaullus and hooking it up to the TARDIS.

So the spaceship was real but the crash landing wasn't…and the alien that they'd gone to look at had confirmed their suspicions. Saving off on the leaving her behind for now, she focussed on the immediate issue. "So it's all a pack of lies?"

"Mmhmm." Kaullus nodded, now typing in a few commands on the box, looking for something specific, his pointed look almost ordering her not to go onto any other subjects.

Deciding that that was probably a good idea for now, Rose just leaned on the console next to him, watching him and the Doctor work in looking for…whatever it was that they were looking for. Still it didn't add up that aliens would just fake a crash landing, unless you considered the possibility that they wanted everyone to look at the ship itself whilst they did something else. "What is it though?" She asked out loud, "Are they invading?"

A snort behind them reminded her of their fourth party member, but right now there wasn't really anyone who wanted to deal with Mickey. "Funny way to invade," he pointed out, craning over the Doctor and Kaullus' heads to see what they were doing, "putting the planet on red alert."

That halted both alien and not-alien, the Doctor and Kaullus both glancing back at him considering the observation he'd made. They glanced at each other then went back to work, the Doctor offering a half-hearted "Good point."

"So the question becomes," Kaullus muttered as he fiddled with the box's instruments "what're they doing here in the first place?"

* * *

**A/N:** Oy my head is killing me! This chapter just kept fighting me every step of the way! Probably 'cos this one's a two parter, half of me wants to condense it all down into an easy five chapters instead of a big long ten...but then too much detail would go missing. So. Pigs, UNIT, guns, mermaids, Tosh, flame boxes and mre secrets from Kaullus...as well as angsting over his ears...hmmm, this guy's going to get even worse than the Doctor if I keep him around the estate any longer. Thank god we're going to Downing Street next chapter.  
And we finally get to meet Shadow...  
Polls still up...though I'm considering doing an interlude for 'Clockwork Man' as well as all the other NSAs. That might not go anywhere as I'm just six chapters away from 'Dalek' and I'm really looking forward to that!


	18. The Slitheen

**A/N: **So the plot goes on, Pig that got turned into a joke, Kaullus gets angry enough and desperate enough to give away information to the Doctor, Mickey acts like Mickey and Jackie steps inside the TARDIS, then promptly steps right on out again. Things are coming to a head now and so we should get on with it before all sorts of things get in my way. Onward! On on you noblest muse!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, all things Doctor Who belongs to the BBC, damn them! I do however own this story, Tahkaullus Neuvo, the Underworld, the Elite Corps, and the computer that I'm using to type all of this up, so ha!

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**The Slitheen**

The flame box had all the data that they needed to track the ship's flight path, however on its own all they'd get would be faint emissions. Fortunately though the TARDIS could do a bit more with the box's data than even Eye could, hence why Kaullus had taken the monumental risk of letting the Doctor see all the data he'd collected over the years on things that he couldn't possibly have been there to see – well he hadn't, other Elites in the field had their own flame boxes, the whole lot of them connected together sharing information. Nevertheless that only staved off the feeling of downtrodden gloom for so long, the Doctor needing to do some rewiring on the scanner before the TARDIS could track where the ship had been before landing in the Thames.

It gave him time to think.

Jackie had run from him in terror…she'd looked at him, right at him, and fled. _All because of these bloody things! _He didn't have a mirror, but he didn't need to. He knew exactly what he was sulking over. That had hurt, twelve months of being her shoulder to lean on, assuring her that he'd find her daughter…and she'd just fled at the sight of him. A part of him knew he should have expected that, he had sort of led her on, but another part, a selfish part, just felt completely rejected and lonely.

Bringing Rose up to speed staved it off for a little while, but all that needed telling was told quickly and was understood too soon for his liking. He needed to be working, patching up controls, tuning up the TARDIS, anything! Right now the last thing that Kaullus wanted to do was think. And so that was how he found himself underneath the grating of the console, screwdriver stuck between the wires, monitoring the output of the zeiton crystals. They were fluctuating a bit – nothing that a quick pop over to Cardiff wouldn't solve. _Oh, that reminds me. Need to talk to him next time he's Pinstripes. _

He was further distracted from any lowly thoughts as Rose's head popped up from above him. "What're you doin' down there?" She asked him tentatively, something he silently thanked her for as he pulled himself back up.

"The TARDIS seems to be a bit off is all," he explained, "noticed it the last time she was in flight. She seemed a bit…well, jolty, is the best way I can put it." And screaming inside his head at the Doctor but that wasn't something Rose needed to know just yet. Seeing her lost look he shrugged, "Nothing a quick jaunt over to Cardiff won't fix."

"Oh, no!" She snapped, backing up as he closed the grating. "I've had enough of Cardiff for one lifetime! Just came back from that and, while Charles Dickens was fun, I don't think I want a repeat."

Yeah that was right, the Gelth had been coming out through the rift via the mind of a young servant girl…what had her name been? Gwen-something? Shaking off the thought, he got back to it, flicking a couple of minor systems off whilst he re-tuned the scanner's frequencies on top – the Doctor was doing the harder stuff, patching the box and the scanner in together, Kaullus just had the job of getting a clearer screen. But Rose wasn't finished, "What's in Cardiff these days anyway?"

"Well there's the rift." Maybe he shouldn't have said it as casually as that. Now she looked properly frightened as he continued working. Stopping his fiddling for a moment, he turned to face her properly, something he noted that didn't go unmissed by Mickey. "It's not dangerous…or rather, it's not spewing out blue ghosts that want to take over the dead anymore. All it does now is spew out radiation, harmless to us but just what the Old Girl needs."

That didn't look like it had calmed her fears completely, but at least she nodded a little. He made a note to talk to her about that later and went back to work on the TARDIS, just in time for Mickey to stomp over to the Doctor, whose legs were in the air as he kept on working, the sonic stuck between his teeth.

"Jus' what're you doin' down there?" Well, that could've been asked a bit nicer, but then he was talking to the guy who made off with his girlfriend so maybe Kaullus could sympathise…except he'd never had his girlfriend stolen from him so he couldn't draw a comparison.

And the Doctor didn't help matters, being his usual rude self, calling him again, through muffled teeth. "Ricky."

"It's Mickey."

And at this point, Kaullus tuned the pair of them out. Seriously the two of them were like a pair of schoolchildren, and a glance at Rose told him that she was thinking on exactly the same lines as him. He just shrugged her way and went back to work, though if he was being honest with himself he was now just mucking about to stave off proper thinking time again.

Once more though, a distraction provided itself as a blast of static crackled inside of his ear. Glancing up, he noted that everyone was caught in their own little world and so he took the chance given him to slip out of the TARDIS. Closing the door behind him, and after a quick glance around to see if anyone was watching, he put his hand to his ear and spoke. "Go ahead, Eye."

"_We've just got a report from Downing Street." _Nina's voice on the other end informed him, looks like she was back to work and sounded good and rested. _"Shadow's saying that the Emergency Protocol Software just picked up a Code Nine." _

_So someone talked. _Glancing up at the flats right ahead of him, Kaullus also had a very good idea just who that someone had been too. Guessing who had been confirmed as the Code Nine, but still wanting to confirm everything, he asked "Can you give me any specifics?"

"_Yep." _She paused for a moment, probably going over her notes, _"Shadow says the exact keywords were 'Doctor' 'Blue Box' and 'Tardis.'_" all three of the giveaway keywords, then_. "Indra Ganesh reported the Code Nine to Greene and General Asquith." _

"Whoa, hold on." He'd missed something there, "When did Asquith show up at Downing Street?"

"_A few hours ago," _Nina reported, sounding a bit confused as to what significance that could have. _"Why? Does_ _it matter?"_

"We have a fake alien landing and a pig that had bits stuck onto its brain." He told her shortly, glancing around for any incoming squad cars or helicopters. Nothing yet but they couldn't be far off. "Right now, Eye, everything matters. Understood?"

There was no reply for a moment, then Nina, sounding a bit more prim than before, responded shortly, _"Understood, Guardian."_

"Good, now how long ago was the Code Nine confirmed?"

"_Would've been…a few minutes ago now" _She replied.

_Then we have anywhere between twenty to forty minutes before this whole place is swarming with police._ Kaullus thought to himself as he had another look around for anything resembling a neon shirt. When he didn't see anything he decided to head back inside, the Doctor would have the box patched into the scanner by now. "We'll talk later Eye. Guardian out."

He didn't wait for Nina's response and just headed back inside the TARDIS, catching the tail end of Rose and Mickey's conversation. She looked a bit nervous, standing there unsure as to where they stood right now. "So…" she was trying to start off, "in twelve months, have you been seeing anyone else?"

But he just shook his head to that, and for a moment Kaullus considered that was pretty good of him…if a bit glutton-for-punishment-y. Still, never let it be said that Mickey Smith wasn't loyal. But his opinion was dashed to the ground when Mickey added on, "Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you." Now it just sounded like she was the only option he had…which didn't make Rose look good in any light you tried to throw it. Playing on her guilt was not a way to endear Kaullus to Mickey Smith, even if he tried to soften his words by asking her if she was going to stay, and he was just about to add his voice to the conversation when the Doctor suddenly shouted triumphantly.

"Got it! Haha!" His success in getting the scanner working distracted everyone, Rose breaking away from Mickey and Kaullus shoving him aside before he could follow, positioning himself between the pair of them so their newest conspirator was stuck on the outer rim. "So here we go," the Doctor said showing them what he'd got up, "patched the flame box into the scanner, overlaid its records with the radar, looped it all back three days when the emissions vanished…hold on…" the scanner was still a bit fuzzy. Kaullus was about to suggest retuning the frequencies but the Doctor beat him to it with his own method of fixing the problem. He hit it. "Come on!"

Before he could get on the Doctor's case about not whacking the TARDIS – which would probably result in better landings too – the screen cleared out to show a very basic image of the Earth. It was just a sphere with a flashing bit to signify where the alien ship had been hiding before it vanished. "So it was the North Sea!" Kaullus exclaimed. At least that was one thing that had been bugging him all day cleared up. Now the question became "How did we miss it then?"

"I'm not an expert," though the tone the Doctor used would suggest he wouldn't mind being called such, "but I think the ship drive it was using was a slipstream engine, and they have this weird ability to mask their own emissions in at one single point in flight: Take off." And on the screen it showed just that, the little dot representing the ship suddenly taking off from the ground and flying into space.

"But that doesn't make any sense." Kaullus snapped, "Even if it was up there for three days, we should've been able to pick something up."

"Not if the ship initiated a stationary orbit." He countered, pointing on the screen as the little dot suddenly stopped above the screen and just stayed there. "Gravity works wonders at distorting slipstream emissions" the Doctor explained "it would just look like any other radio wave or telecommunication unless you knew what to look for."

_So it hid itself from everyone, _Kaullus concluded, _by using our own planet against us._ _Oh that's genius, _a spaceship that could hide itself from detection inwards and out, all with the use of gravity – the perfect tool for stealth observation. _If we could get our hands on that…the Underworld could be everywhere! We wouldn't need to infiltrate anymore, the Elites could focus on the more serious military targets._

His realisation went by unnoticed by the rest of them as the Doctor fast-forwarded the recording to three days later, twelve hours ago to be precise. "And now," he was lecturing, "the ship pulls out of its orbit and plummets to Earth, the pig probably already wired up and ready to go." On the screen, the little dot suddenly fell out of its stationary spot and began to simply free-fall onto the big ball it had been orbiting around. "And that's the story of the amazing fake crash landing." The Doctor concluded, "It went back up and came right back down."

"What does that mean though?" Rose asked, having followed everything so far and, by the look on her face, really just asking to confirm what she was already suspecting.

And confirm her thoughts he did, "It means it came from Earth in the first place." The Doctor told her, "Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived. They've been here for a while. The question is…what have they been doing?"

That was the question wasn't it? There was no pre-warning in his past that Rose and the Doctor had given him in their future to get him ready for this, nothing to suggest what he'd have to do when the time came. That meant they either figured that this was an unimportant event compared to all the other things they'd done…or that what happened today had important historical significance that they couldn't risk jeopardising with foreknowledge. Well whichever one it was, Kaullus was going to have to play this one by ear. Once again they had nothing to go on.

Except there was one thing that they could try, "We could always have a look and see what the rest of the world is making of this." A part of him couldn't help smirking as everyone turned uncomprehending eyes his way. He just nodded at the screen. "How 'bout we take the domestic approach and watch it on T.V.?" And this time he did laugh as, once again, the Doctor's face twisted to show how much he _hadn't _thought of that again. Rose however was more responsive, though she looked a bit apprehensive of going back up to Jackie's flat now. Understanding her skittishness, Kaullus just leaned over her and started fiddling with a few of the scanner's settings. "We don't need to go back up there. The TARDIS should be able to pick up the signals."

"Hang about." Mickey exclaimed, "This thing has T.V?"

"And we went up to my mum's to follow all this?" Rose asked, turning to the Doctor. "How come you didn't say?"

He just shrugged, that familiar annoyance at Kaullus when he showed competence in sorting out the TARDIS' systems cropping up. "Nobody asked." He replied evasively.

The fact that the Old Girl got T.V. though seemed to have won Mickey over as he craned in to watch Kaullus fiddle with the settings – he'd gotten the airwaves, now all he was trying to do was find a decent channel. "How many channels do you get?" He asked, trying not to sound all that impressed.

The Doctor folded his arms and backed up a bit, "All the basic packages." He responded.

"Do you get sports channels?"

"Yes I get the football." He couldn't see him, but Kaullus clearly heard the eye-roll in that reply and he had to keep himself from laughing. Part of him wanted to ask if he still supported Man City. Though considering how this one seemed to like the north, maybe he should ask if he'd finally given up on Preston North End. League teams however would have to wait as the Doctor halted his channel flicking with a pointed finger, "Hold on, I know that lot."

He'd stopped on the American News Channel again, which was showing images of several men and women heading into 10 Downing Street, Trinity Wells reporting. _"And it is looking likely that the British Government is bringing in specialists – those people who have devoted their lives to studying out space." _And taking a look at them, Kaullus could definitely vouch for these people's competence. All of them were dressed in military officials, and on their chests was the now-becoming-tedious-to-look-at spread-winged insignia that could mean only one thing.

"UNIT!" The Doctor exclaimed, "The proper lot this time!" Seeing Rose's lost look he quickly elaborated, "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce – good people."

"Good timing for them to show up too." Kaullus agreed, cocking his head to one side as he regarded them all. _Though it has to be said they're a bit late to the party. That ship's been there all day. _Shrugging he stood up straight again. All in all, he supposed he should be glad that they had shown up at all, so often an alien incursion started up that it ended again. Sometimes he wondered what these people did with their lives, always looking up at the stars when the answer could often be found a lot closer to home.

"And how d'you know them?" Rose asked, causing him to grin to himself as she put two and two together only to come up with three. She needed more information.

Information delivered by a snide Mickey Smith, the promise of T.V. not being enough to derail him after all. "'Cos he's worked for them," he filled in for the Doctor seconds before he could give his own answer. "Oh yeah don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you."

_Where,_ Kaullus snarled in his head, getting suitably fed up with their hanger-on,_ on an amateur's website?_

Not being able to read thoughts and take a hint, Mickey went on, leaning next to Rose to tell her the _big secret. _"You look deep enough on the internet, or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead." And again, Kaullus just rolled his eyes, whilst feeling a bit insulted on Rose's behalf. She'd gone and done her own research on the Doctor as well as had a conversation lasting more than five minutes that didn't end with him getting her name wrong on purpose. So really, who had the better knowledge fountain – Rose, who had first-hand experience, or Mickey the Jilted?

_I've already punched someone today. _He forcefully reminded himself. _Smith will just have to wait for tomorrow._

And the Doctor seemingly agreed with him, responding with a sarcastic, "That's nice, good boy Ricky." If their positions were reversed, Kaullus suspected he'd be patting Mickey on the head like a good little puppy.

Three men, all of whom didn't see fully eye-to-eye with each other, all in the same room together shows just how much control Rose had over the lot of them. "If you know 'em," she raised her voice a little, getting all three to look at her, "then why don't you just go and help."

"Well for one thing they pointed guns at us less than an hour ago." Kaullus muttered, backing up as the Doctor ran around the console. Glancing at his watch, he noted the time. They'd been in here for about half an hour, so the police should be at least a minute away.

As for the Doctor, he seemed to be juggling between taking off and doing things the old fashioned way. "Besides," he was reasoning, "the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens, I wanna keep _this _alien," he pointed at himself "outta the mix. I'm going undercover!"

"And do you know what undercover means Doctor?" Kaullus asked, unable to keep the patronising tone out of his voice, "It means that the TARDIS is gonna have to stay here." Oh the pained look on his face as he realised that! Priceless.

Sighing, the Doctor relented and he stepped away from the console. "Good point." _Ooh, that looked like it hurt. _ But then he got his own back on Kaullus as he dashed back around and down the ramp towards the doors. "Ricky! You've got a car – you can do some driving."

_What?! _No, no way. There were some things that Kaullus would just never do, like punch a baby or throw a kitten off a cliff, and this was another one of those occasions. If the Doctor thought that he was going to sit in a Volkswagen Beetle, of all things, then they could just save the world without him because he just would not do it! The only consolation though was that maybe the police would be here by now…it was a sad day in his life when he had to rely on _them_ to get him out of a jam. Then again he had his own car, so maybe he could just offer Rose a lift and let Satellite Ears suffer in silence.

That decided, he hurried to catch up to them and stepped out right behind Rose…right into the middle of a searchlight glaring down on the TARDIS.

_Huh…guess someone up there really _does_ like me. _He thought to himself in relief as he looked around. The previously empty courtyard was now filling up with police cars and vans, as well as the odd military vehicle coming to a halt, some of which were impeded by the Aston, to which Kaullus gave an affectionate pat. _That's my girl._

The action however got him a strict "Do not move!" from a loudspeaker overhead. His response to that was to just flip the bird at the helicopter.

Something barged into him and he was just able to catch Mickey make a break for it, lunging over the barricade and hiding in a dumpster. _So much for the grit and pride of the Powell Estate, _he found himself thinking again, though this time he could easily chuckle at the sight of Mickey legging it in the other direction instead of feel panic as he tried to reach a dustbin before it ate him.

A frantic cry somewhere by the flats caught his attention and he spotted Jackie trying to get through to Rose, unsuccessfully of course but it did take four personnel to drag her away. So that was something to admire. Maybe there really was still some of that Powell Estate spirit after all.

Glancing around, Kaullus noted that Rose had spotted her mother and had easily connected the dots, the result being a look of utter betrayal spreading over her face. He would've said something reassuring but, seeing as the dick upstairs had told him not to move, he couldn't exactly use the tried and true method of hugging her tight. As for the Doctor, he was looking around at all the guns being pointed at him, all the stern set expressions, all the annoying lights being shot in their faces…and he was grinning his bloody face off! Honestly the man could smile at an entire incoming fleet if he wanted to...then again…Stonehenge.

"Place your hands above your head!" That annoying voice from on high ordered them, to which two of the three of them immediately complied. "Put your hands above your head!" The order was repeated, more forcefully, "You are under arrest."

Sighing, Kaullus glanced at the Doctor and Rose and rolled his eyes, raising his hands in the universal surrender position. Well at least they were moving so that was something…

"Take me to your leader!"

If Kaullus were a Cyberman, he would've sworn that, as his head turned _ever _so slowly on his neck to stare at the big eared idiot on Rose's right, the whole thing would've just scraped along. Sometimes…he really, really, _really, _hated this man.

* * *

Tahkaullus wasn't speaking to him…again, which was fine as far as the Doctor was concerned. What was so wrong with that line? It was a classic! Well, good taste in quotes or not, they were still heading in sort of the right direction. It wouldn't be the space ship but then, where this lot could only be taking them in a minute, their new destination was probably even better! They were escorted around the pretty insultingly small barricade that had surrounded his TARDIS and led to a police escort car just outside of the estate, Jackie's bleating following them all the way.

He slid in first, taking the leather seat on the far side and leaned back, anticipation bouncing up and down his spine. Ooh, they had tinted windows now! This trip could only be fun! He glanced over happily to see Rose sit down in the middle seat beside him and then Tahkaullus taking the very far seat, still muttering expletives under his breath in multiple languages, Italian being one of them.

"Take me to your leader." He repeated as the car started off, "Of all the things he could've said he chose the most overused of all alien lines."

Deciding that that ought to be sufficient payback for not letting him take the TARDIS to the 'crash' site, the Doctor leaned back to enjoy the ride. Beside him, Rose was examining the car and frowning at what all the information she'd gathered was telling her this _wasn't._ "This is a bit posh." She noted, wriggling a bit in the leather "If I'd known it'd be like this, being arrested, I would've done it years ago."

"And aren't I glad that you didn't." Tahkaullus spouted, looking out the window at the buildings as they went by, like a dog with nothing else to do.

Well clearly the pair of them had missed the point – again – and so it fell to the Doctor to correct them, again. "We're not being arrested." He told them, feeling the excitement building, "We're being escorted." Clearly that wasn't enough for Rose, her confused 'Where to?' prompting him to explain further. Honestly did he have to tell people everything? It ruined the surprise for everyone later. Nevertheless, he was too busy grinning to feel really annoyed and so he just answered her point blank. "Where do you think?" And he cut himself off as an excited laugh got out before getting himself under control again "Downing Street!"

For a moment, she looked absolutely stunned, before a disbelieving laugh escaped her, "You're kidding!"

He just shook his head at her, absolute joy beaming out despite all the alien business going on "I'm not!" He replied, noting his voice going a bit squeaky as another laugh got out. Five's handiwork there.

But for Rose, it still didn't seem to have sunk in. "_Ten _Downing Street?" She stressed the ten, as if completely convinced that there was some other number of significance on that road.

"Well," Tahkaullus finally re-joined the discussion, a little smirk of his own on his face as he turned to face her, "do you know any other Downing Street?" He held that smirk for a while, and then his own laughter broke out.

"Oh, my god!" The glee finally set in Rose as well as her own disbelieving laughter joined their own, "I'm going to Ten Downing Street?!" She exclaimed joyfully, "How come?"

"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right." And he really did, this was worse than when Mr Poet over there got it right, because with him there was at least some explanation for how he did it. Him meeting them over and over again must have left some sort of impression, though by his attitude not a very good one. But Mickey-the-Idiot Smith?! Wait, he was straying from the point, which he quickly got back to. "Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times and I've been, uh…noticed."

"You blew up a Henriks store last year!" Tahkaullus half shouted at him, aware of their drivers peering in on their giggling "I hardly think something like that doesn't go unnoticed!"

"You read the papers the next day!" He countered, remembering him picking up the Times and scoffing at the headlines. "At least I've been noticed by an intelligent lot."

"The British Government?" There was disbelief in Tahkaullus' voice as he stated exactly _who _had noticed them. "The PM's missing and the nation is currently being run by the Party's sweets manager. Fantastic."

"Now they need you?" Rose cut in between them as the Doctor opened his mouth to retaliate. Why couldn't she just let him rail into this smug trot and be done with it?

Nevertheless, he figured her subject would at least keep said trot quiet for a bit so he focussed on her, "Like they said on the telly – they're gathering experts in alien knowledge." And here he grinned expectantly at her for the obvious to now be stated, "Now who's the best expert of that lot, I wonder?"

"Patrick Moore?"

Okay, fair enough there was him…though he didn't half misbehave when he had the chance, the cheeky devil. "Apart from him!" He conceded, mopey face coming out for effect.

And then she smirked, letting out another excited laugh, "Oh don't you just love it!" She accused him, giving him a knowing look.

"Oi, what about me?" Their third passenger protested, big blue eyes acting all stupid and puppy, "I'm risking my life, day in and out, and what do I get? Side lined by an old man and an even older old man! Hmph!" He turned away from them, folding his arms and acting, for all intents and purposes, like a great big child. _This _was Earth's line of defence when he wasn't in? _Maybe I should stick around more often…_

The Doctor took a moment to consider that…and then shook his head. _Nah, why would I do that?_ There were so many other things he could do! So many other people! Out there, Winston was still trying to nick the key to his TARDIS, Will Pitt was sending secret police out to spy on him, and Lloyd George… "I tell ya, Lloyd George" he laughed in delight at the memory, "he used to drink me under the table!" Granted he hadn't exactly been far behind but it was the point that counted.

"Always the big shots with you innit?" Tahkaullus muttered from his side, "What about the underdogs? Callaghan died last year. I was at the funeral and…" he checked his watch, "Marge is expecting me over in a couple of days to commemorate her father."

Ah well, fair play to him, he liked some PM's too. Not very good ones mind you, but at least he was trying to branch out his social circles. Actually come to think of it they had an election last year didn't they? Turning to Rose he asked. "Who's the Prime Minister now?"

She shrugged, leaning over Tahkaullus to look out the window, "How should I know? I missed a year, remember?"

"Still Blaire" The one being leaned over told them. "The third win for New Labour."

"Really?" She asked sitting back again, genuinely shocked to hear that. "I woulda thought everyone would've voted Tory just to get rid of him."

Right, it was 2006, Blaire was at his least popular right now, being accused misleading Parliament of going into Iraq not only for following the Americans into it, thus costing the lives of many brave soldiers, but also for his alleged belief that Saddam Hussein had been hiding weapons of mass destruction. Weapons that, it was clear by 2005, had never existed. Tony Blaire faced huge criticism over that decision, from the Opposition and his own party, one-hundred-and-thirty-nine of New Labour opposing the action.

All of which didn't seem to matter to the voters however, as Tahkaullus eloquently summarised, "Would you want a bunch of arrogant tophs running your nation? No thanks!"

He glanced out the window again and grinned at something outside of their vision. A flash from his side had the Doctor looking the other way and he too started grinning at the photographers and paparazzi all dotted around to get a picture of the latest experts. Oh, the times he'd walked through those gates, but never like this! Not with all this attention and recognition! The car rolled to a stop outside number 10, and both doors were opened for them. The Doctor and Tahkaullus stepped out first, headlong into the blinding light of the media, and he couldn't quite hold back a wave or two. Oh this was fantastic! What he saw Tahkaullus doing would have annoyed him at any other time – he was actually leaning over the rails and signing autographs for people who didn't know the first thing about him and whom he likely knew nothing about in return – but right now he was too busy enjoying himself!

Rose's words summed it up pretty well as she stepped into the maelstrom of lights and questions, staring up at the gates of the Prime Minister's home: "Oh my God!"

Getting a few more waves in, he beckoned Tahkaullus over – well, actually he had to whistle at him to get his attention – and Rose was right behind them as they walked through the gates and the door numbered 10 was opened for them. From this moment on, they were in the most important house in the United Kingdom…which made it, right now, the single most important house on the planet.

That thought suddenly sobered him up as he thought about it a bit more – this house could be holding just the right clues to getting to the bottom of this…if he could find them. He had a ship that had been hiding in the North Sea, which had now 'crashed' into Big Ben and fallen into the Thames, and a pig that had its brain rewired. Not much to go on, but he'd done more with less in his time.

And who best to help him? Surrounding him now were the faces of people he'd worked with lifetimes ago. Whilst his face had changed, that didn't mean that they had forgotten him. He just couldn't tell them who he was…they may be UNIT, but these people weren't Alistair. Until he saw him…no one would know he was back.

Glancing at Tahkaullus told him that he too had calmed down and was now assessing the reception room that they had been led into, which concerned him somewhat. Was the man expecting a shootout to occur here? In fact now that he thought about it, he'd seen him do that for every single room he'd stepped into. That kind of rigid sticking to routine had years of discipline behind it. And the way he'd ordered those soldiers about in the mortuary…there was only one conclusion: Tahkaullus was a soldier, a high ranking one at that by the way he was able to assume command, experience under his belt. But a soldier for what?

His thoughts were interrupted as a young man with tan skin and short cut hair walked into the room, raising his voice over the multiple conversations that were going on around them. "Ladies and gentlemen, if we could now convene? Quick as we can, please, this way on the right and can I remind you," he held up something on a loop for them all to see, "ID cards are to be worn at all times. Here is yours, sir." He handed the card to the Doctor and he quickly looped it over his neck.

And then something rather interesting cropped up as he glance at the additional pair beside him. It was a quick thing, but the Doctor swore he could see another card hiding in the man's jacket, though after glancing at Rose and Tahkaullus he stuck his arms in the way and turned to speak to him again. "I'm sorry, but your companions don't have clearance."

Well, clearance didn't seem to matter at all to one of them, but as for Rose. "I don't go anywhere without her." He informed the…secretary firmly.

However, it seemed the secretary was just as firm with his refusal, "You're the code nine, not them." He glanced at them again a second of uncertainty in his expression before it was slammed away again and he continued to the Doctor, "I can't let them in and that's a fact."

"She's staying with me." They keep this up, they'd lose their best bet at doing this and he'd go back to what he'd planned to do and go down to the ship itself.

"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there." Oh, very confident about his position was he? Thought he was all big and important telling him what would and wouldn't fly? It was regular girls like Rose who'd helped him save this silly little blue planet a hundred times over while the so-called experts debated. Nevertheless, the secretary stayed set in his decision to oppose him "I can't let them in and that's a fact, Doctor..." He winced a little at the title, most likely suspecting that he'd gotten it wrong "it is 'the Doctor' isn't it?"

Frankly, he didn't care much for answering questions regarding names. The Doctor was all set to leave right there when Rose suddenly nodded in acceptance and backed up a bit, "It's alright," she assured him "you go."

Glancing her at her uncertainly, the Doctor was saved from having an audience as an aging MP tried to get his attention, which attracted the ire of the secretary. Thanking her for her unexpected help, the Doctor turned to her, "You sure? We can still go and look at the crash."

"Yeah fine." She nodded positively, "I mean they're experts, so you oughta hear them out, right?" Well maybe, but that lot gathered for Roswell.

Then Tahkaullus chipped in, stretching out a bit, cracking his neck in a disgusting fashion and smirking at the Doctor. "You go and enjoy the theatrics. Rose and I'll be here when you get back."

Sighing, seeing the agreeing look on her face as she backed up to join the redhead by the secretary, the Doctor nodded and headed for the door the other 'experts' had gone through. "Don't get into any trouble." He called out to them, though he didn't know why he was bothering. With Tahkaullus around, he was starting to understand, trouble was bound to be around the next corner.

* * *

"You haven't got clearance, now leave it!" The man finished shouting at the woman and turned back to Rose, taking her by the arm – something, she noted, that Kaullus suddenly coughed angrily at – and then letting go again, facing her properly. "I'm going to have to leave you both with security." He explained, before directing them out.

But he was halted by the woman's voice behind him, "It's alright," she told him, smiling a bit though looking a bit nervous as she spoke to him, "I'll look after them. Let me be of some use." Not giving him a chance to disagree, she faced Rose, smiling pleasantly and directing her and Kaullus in the opposite direction. "Walk with me." She told them both, leading them through a doorway towards a set of stairs. Rose glanced back at Kaullus to see what he made of this, but he was glaring after the secretary who was now mumbling something to him before going back to his work. After that he just fell into line beside the woman as if that had been his plan the entire time.

That seemed to suit the woman just fine and so Rose hurried to join them. "That's right," she told them both, still sounding a little bit nervous as they passed the armed guards "just keep walking." Once they were past them though, she quickly held up an ID card of her own. "Harriet Jones." She introduced herself, "MP Flydale North."

_Flydale North? _She'd never heard of it, had to be some tiny little place then that no one ever really bothered to look up. However the way Kaullus was nodding, mouthing 'yes, I know who you are' at Harriet Jones' back, you'd think he'd looked up the town history as well as keeping an eye on who was running for office.

He was also the one to lead the conversation once they came to a stop beside the stairs. "So, I'm guessing there's something you'd like to chat to us about?" He asked, glancing over her shoulder at the guards they'd just slipped by. "Or more accurately, you wanted to talk to the Doctor about?"

She'd been trying to speak to the Doctor? Rose hadn't noticed, too busy getting the alien in question inside and to stop worrying about her. They were in 10 Downing Street. Unless the aliens were in here, there probably wasn't a safer place in the country right now. Though by the way the MP was quivering, that idea might not be far off the mark.

"Yes," she answered Kaullus question, now positively shaking… "Yes, this friend of yours…he's an expert is that right?" Whatever it was that was unnerving her was now coming out fully, her distress coming out in her words as she asked them about the Doctor. "H-he knows about aliens?"

"Why d'you wanna know?" Rose asked before she could stop herself, she'd run into a lot of people who seemed to think they knew about the Doctor today and so was a bit on edge. But this woman though had clearly asked for confirmation, not whether she had his record or something. And whatever she wanted to talk to them about was clearly scaring her.

And her fear finally got the better of her as whatever subject needed to be discussed got choked up in sobs as Harriet Jones broke down in tears, pressing her hands to her face to try and stem them. Glancing around awkwardly, Rose took her by the arms in an attempt to comfort her. This wasn't something she was used to doing in public, with all those eyes looking their way, and she felt herself unsure about what to do to help calm this poor woman down.

Kaullus though came to her rescue as he slipped by her and wrapped an arm around Harriet, rubbing up and down gently. "Hey, it's okay." He hushed her gently, glancing up once before going back to his comforting, "It's alright, whatever it is can wait until he gets out, yeah?"

"No!" Her vehemence shocked the pair of them and they both stepped back as Harriet Jones recovered herself. "No, I fear by then it will be too late. There's something that I need to show him…" her brief moment of strength seemed to be vanishing though as her worry seemed to set in again. "you probably wouldn't believe me."

Having quickly gotten over her awkward moment, Rose was by her side next to Kaullus in her reassurance, "I've seen a couple of weird things these last few days." She told Harriet, "Whatever it is, you can show us." When Harriet Jones still looked doubtful, she went on to ask "Where is it?"

Still looking unconvinced of their belief to her claims, Harriet Jones indicated that they would have to take the stairs up to the next floor. There was a problem to get up there though as the stairs were firmly blocked by two armed guards.

Glancing around for another way, Rose said "We'd better take the lift."

But Kaullus shook his head as he glanced over that way. "No good. It's being watched too." And then he seemed to come to a decision as he sighed and broke away from them, heading straight for the stairs. When they tried to stop him, he just brought a finger to his lips and hushed them. Giving them a final stern look he turned back to the guards and poked the nearest one.

_What the hell does he think he's doing?! _She wanted to shout as she watched him make a series of weird hand gestures to himself, then back at her and Harriet Jones and then towards the stairs. If he thought that looked clever or impressive then he had another thing coming!

Then the weirdest thing happened: The guard nodded at him and turned to tap his partner on her shoulder, indicating her and Harriet Jones and then pointing at Kaullus and the stairs. She glanced their way, then at Kaullus, then looked at her partner and nodded an affirmative before the pair went back to standing firm at their posts, as if that weird conversation had never happened at all. As for Kaullus, he turned back and walked over to them. "Okay, we can go up now."

They could? Looking at the guards you wouldn't be able to tell. What had that whole conversation meant anyway? Rose felt her questions about him building again as she observed, first the guards and then him, trying to figure out what his agenda was. He caught roaming eye and sighed again, "Look I can't explain right now. You're just going to have to trust me, okay?" He didn't wait for her response and just left her and Harriet Jones behind, walking back to the guards and passing right between them. For a second she expected them to both turn and open fire on him, those guns didn't exactly look particularly nice.

But they didn't turn, didn't call for help or even look at him as he walked passed them and started up the stairs. They just stood their ground, looking straight ahead. Kaullus was much the same, not looking back at them at all.

Slightly stunned, Rose was a bit surprised when she found it was Harriet Jones who had to get her moving rather than the other way around, whatever she needed to show them trumping surprise for her. Shaking it off, just chalking it up to another weird factor of her life, Rose followed them up, past the guards and started climbing the stairs. It then occurred to her, as they left earshot of the people downstairs, that they didn't have a clue where they were going. "Where exactly is this thing that you need to show us?" She asked Harriet Jones, trying to be gentle considering the distress it caused her to think of it.

Not gently enough it seemed, as it seemed to cause her to start shaking again and Rose had to step up a couple of stairs, wrapping an arm around her waist comfortingly. After a moment, Harriet Jones answered, "The Cabinet Room. Th-they left it in there."

Earlier hearing that would have been cause for excitement for Rose, now though, with the possibility that there was something terrible in there, it just became information to absorb. Along with Kaullus having some sort of weird secret handshake with the police – who he'd earlier shown a clear distaste for – she had just decided to go with the flow for now and start figuring things out as they came.

They came to the next floor and Kaullus led them off, his knowledge of having walked these halls before coming to the forefront as he navigated the floor. If it seemed strange that he knew the way to Harriet Jones she didn't say, likely too fixed on whatever was inside the Cabinet Room, which they were now nearing. When the doors came into sight, she rushed ahead of them going inside the Cabinet Room ahead of Kaullus and Rose. When they entered she was pulling what looked like a suit out of a supply cupboard…except suits didn't usually come with hands and faces. On the suit – it was the only thing Rose could think to call it – there was a small golden zip along the forehead, opening up the head to allow something, or someone, in or out of it, all possible remains cleaned out.

For a moment they just looked at it in horror as Harriet Jones explained what she had seen and what had been done to the last man they had killed. Kaullus moved first, and she followed him, already with his screwdriver out and running it over the human suit. The MP beside them was still talking even while he worked, nearing hysterics as she spoke. "They turned the body into a suit!" She wailed, "A disguise for the thing inside!" Her control failed her and she burst into tears again.

This time though, Rose was at her side in a moment only being able to imagine the terrifying sight of having to watch this happen. Harriet Jones was lucky to be alive! "It's alright," she assured her, rubbing her back gently, "I believe you. It's…it's alien alright. And that's some serious tech," an idea sprung to mind and she moved away from the distraught MP, rummaging through the various draws and cupboards in the room. "if we could find it, we could use it."

"And do what?" Kaullus asked, shortly but not unkindly. "Make our own skin suits?" He shook his head as he finished running his screwdriver along the body and pocketed it. "No good looking for it, if there's any tech it'll be on their persons. The only question now is, who are they?" That brought her to a halt. That was a very good question. If these aliens could turn human skin into suits then they could be anyone at all. Anyone downstairs could've been an alien!

But then they had someone who'd seen at least some of them right there, something that they both realised. Kaullus turned to her quickly. "Harriet, you've seen them, you know who they're masquerading as" he told her quickly but gently, resting a calming hand on her shoulder, "now, I need you to be brave. I need you to tell me who was in this room when this body," he indicated the suit, "became useless to them. Can you do that?"

For a moment, Harriet Jones looked terrified at giving the names but she quickly swallowed it and nodded, drying her eyes quickly. After a moment she spoke, "There were three of them, this one," she indicated the abandoned suit, "and a woman…Margaret Blaine I believe."

That seemed to strike a chord in Kaullus as his ears suddenly shot up. "You're sure?" He asked, now sounding terribly anxious. What did he know that they didn't?

The MP didn't notice however and just went on, indicating the suit lying before them "This one, I recall, was called Oliver Charles."

"Transport Liaison?" Okay, now Rose was convinced that he knew something as Kaullus' eyes began to widen and his tone became even more worried. Before Harriet Jones could answer the last one he held up his hand. "Let me take a guess." He offered, though he sounded like he wanted desperately to be wrong. "The third one was Joseph Greene, right?" The expression on his face as she nodded in stunned confirmation could only be described as abject horror.

Then he practically erupted in fury, startling them both as he started tearing around the Cabinet Room, slapping himself every now and again, shouting over and over "I'm thick!" He kept this up, slapping himself and shouting for a whole circuit, coming back to Harriet Jones red faced. "It's been going on all around me, and I wasn't paying attention!" He turned to Rose, wild eyed, "We've been looking the wrong way! The ship, the pig, all of it was a diversion from the real threat! We should've been looking inwards, not out!"

"Kaullus, slow down!" Rose shouted, his self-deprecation causing her own worries over this whole thing to spiral. She'd just about gotten the gist of what he was saying, but he was leaving out too many things. "Start over, what's going on?"

"Tony Blaire!" He half-shouted, still looking disgusted with himself, "He went missing before any of this started. _Before. _And then suddenly the whole cabinet gets locked out of the city, with Joseph Greene, of all people, still on the inside. Earlier still, Margaret Blaine gets access to the Prime Minister, and Oliver Charles deals with arranging transport for him. He goes missing minutes later. Now," he picked up the skin suit and tossed it aside, much to the disgust of Harriet Jones, "experts are being flown in, the only ones who could solve this…" He trailed off slowly as something clicked in his head.

For Rose too, she'd started putting the pieces together as he said them. All three of these people just conveniently being the _only _people of authority to be in London the moment the spaceship arrived? And now there was someone else dead with an alien wearing their skin running around downstairs. So why would they call in the only people who could stop them if even the Doctor and Kaullus had been distracted by their landing? The only answer that made sense for her was an unpleasant one: They were taking no chances.

"It's a trap isn't it?"

There was no time for Kaullus to answer as another voice broke the conversation, "Oh for god's sake!" The secretary from before came barging into the Cabinet room, the door left ajar. "Harriet, this has gone beyond a joke! You cannot just-!"

But Kaullus seemed to have had enough for one night as he turned to the new intruder, an air of total authority filling his tone as he barked at him, "Elite Shadow, stand down!"

The words meant nothing to Rose, but looking at the new arrival it was clear it meant something to him as he turned to stare in shock at the other intruders inside the Cabinet room. From the way he looked at Kaullus, it was clear that the two of them knew each other. Immediately his whole demeanour changed and he stood more erect. For a moment it looked like he was about to salute before Kaullus beat him to it, "And if you even think about saluting me I'll snap you right back down to level three. You're a level five, not a level one!"

"S-sorry sir," 'Shadow' stammered in reply, dropping his hand back down to his side, though his stance became no more relaxed "I-I wasn't expecting you to be up here. Elite Armguard said you were going up the stairs so I figured…"

However he was cut off again as Kaullus swept him aside, "That doesn't matter now, you need to get back downstairs." Glancing at his pockets, he dug into them, pulling out a spare ID card that had his own name on it. "Planning to get me in too, eh?"

"W-well, I figured, if it was the Doctor, you'd want to be there too."

"Figured right." He muttered, pulling out his screwdriver and running it over the image. After a while, the face changed from his own to the secretary's. Looping it back over his head, he told him hurriedly, "Get back down there," he ordered, "this whole thing is a trap! The aliens aren't out there, they're here!"

"Wait, wait, sir!" Shadow held up his hands, no sign of comprehension at all on his face as he tried to get to grips with what was going on around him. "What do you mean, they're here? What about the body? What abou…" He trailed off as he caught sight of the suit behind Kaullus. Once more his whole body language changed, becoming harder and he turned to face Kaullus and nodded shortly. "I'll go get them now."

"Good, now go!"

The whole dialogue passed in a few moments, but for Rose it felt like she'd stepped into some sort of secret agent movie and Kaullus was the secret agent. No wait, more like a conspiracy show, where there seemed to be some sort of underground plot. How did he know this man? Why was he calling him 'Shadow?' What the hell did he mean by calling him 'Elite?' She didn't get a chance to ask any of these questions though, just as Kaullus might as well have never given his order, as a curious voice from outside pulled them back out of the drama.

"Oooh, it sounds like an interesting conversation in here." Looking beyond the secretary, they found that they had a new addition in the form of a plump short woman with short blond hair and dressed in a turquoise suit. She was smiling gleefully at the four of them as she entered the Cabinet room, closing the door behind her and tossing her handbag aside, striding purposefully towards them. "I must say you are quite the sharp young man," she sounded almost praising, addressing Kaullus, "and so very dashing. It's almost a sin, what must come next."

And then it clicked in Rose's head as she took an unconscious step back, standing beside Harriet Jones as Kaullus and 'Shadow' took a couple of inches backwards as well. Looking at them now, she noticed how both of them were suddenly more cautious, focusses completely set on what was directly ahead of them, though it seemed that Kaullus was the one more ready to pounce if he needed to. This was one of the aliens running about in someone's skin…and it seemed like she was about to unmask.

"Margaret Blaine." Kaullus sounded almost mournful. "I liked her. She had so many good policies for Cardiff. Would've made a brilliant Lord Mayor, and you ate her." His tone became hard and unforgiving at the end, and Rose had a feeling that if she could see them, his blue eyes would have become angry flares as he glared at the alien in front of them. "So I have just one question: Who are you?"

"Oh, so personal. And we've only just met." She looked almost offended, save for what could have passed for a flirtatious smile if they didn't know what was making that smile. Then she giggled and reached up lifting the fringe of her hair out of the way to reveal a golden zipper head. "If we're going to be so formal, I believe a change of costume is in order." She explained.

And then she pulled the zipper along her brow, still smiling, though now seemingly in anticipation as blue light engulfed the room. The zip head came fully open and she pulled her forehead back, revealing something green and round and moist wriggling out. The human hands reached up and started pulling on the skin of 'Margaret's' face, revealing two big round black eyes that made up a sort of baby-face when coupled with the green head's big round lips. The head reached out revealing a long green neck, a small boxy collar at the base of it. The whole thing arched over as the rest of the body came loose, towering over its prey. Then the arms came out, each ending in a hand that had three long sharp talons for fingers. 'Margaret' took a moment to admire them, wriggling them about joyfully before turning to face the four of them, her plump belly coming out as the skin suit collapsed to the floor, her legs stepping out.

Fully out of her disguise, the creature loomed over them, staring at them all. Finding Kaullus again she made what had to pass for a smile for her species. "Now, I feel we can better get to know each other." Her pincer like hands snapped together as she surveyed the lot of them, "We are the Slitheen."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Rose caught him nearly offering a sarcastic bow, but was halted as the Slitheen let out mocking laugh. It didn't do her anything to endear her to Kaullus though as he just demanded "What's so funny?"

The creature just turned and gestured to Shadow who took an unconscious step back. "He is such a punctual young man, always following the rules, wearing his ID card." She let out another chitter of laughter. "It will at least help to identify his body."

As if that was timed, the room was filled with a pained cry and everyone turned to Shadow. He was convulsing as lightning suddenly crackled out of the ID card around his neck, electrocuting him. Completely distracted by that Kaullus missed the animalistic roar of the Slitheen, tearing into him and holding him high in the air, one talon digging into his chest, the other two closing around his neck.

And Rose and Harriet Jones? They were stood there, frozen in horror as four suddenly became two in the span of a few seconds. As he slowly went limp, 'Margaret' threw Kaullus aside and shoved Indra to the floor leaving him to die slowly, her newest prey selected and ready for dicing.

* * *

**A/N: **And that wraps up 'Aliens in London.' Don't know if this is a good way to round it up but I figured I'd try something a bit inventive. And look at that! Shadow is revealed only to be killed moments later! Just because he's an Elite and therefore one of Kaullus' guys doesn't mean a can't be an evil bastard and kill him a different way than he died in the episode. And look, more Elites! Who the hell is Armguard?  
Anyway, we end with Kaullus getting tossed about, a hole in his chest again - yeah, like that'll stop him - which is going to piss him off a bit. The Doctor's time of glory will be in the next episode of course. As such, I'll see you there!  
Poll still up, vote, rant, etc.


	19. The Cabinet Room

**A/N: **Right, so when we last left off, the Doctor had been taken into a room full of experts whilst Kaullus and Rose were left with MP Harriet Jones. Jones then took them to have a look at a skin suit for a Slitheen, which got Kaullus angry 'cos it meant he'd been looking the wrong way the whole time. Shadow was revealed, only for to Margaret come in and unzip, revealing her Slitheen-y…ness…before Shadow got zapped and Kaullus got himself a chest-full of talons. We now rejoin the action with the Doctor, who's been MIA for a while. This is World War Three, starting with a bit of Aliens in London that I couldn't figure how to put in the last chapter.  
Disclaimer: It's not mine, never will be mine, and if it was mine things would be different. Tahkaullus is mine, always will be mine, anyone who says he isn't mine will die a slow Slitheen related death.

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**The Cabinet Room**

It started out well, for the first few moments or so. The Doctor skimmed through the handed out stapled documents with all the information that they'd collected so far, laughed at it in his head, worked out a quick crossword puzzle that had been bothering him for two lives, and taken a scan of everyone in the conference room. The experts gathered weren't so much what interested him as the people heading this little get-together. Turned out that Tahkaullus was right about the leadership right now: The man sat behind the desk in front of them was decidedly _not _Tony Blaire…unless the man had put on a great deal of weight in the last year as well as had a facelift and dyed his hair black. Running through the list of MPs of 2006, he quickly put a name to the face of one Joseph Greene, MP Hartley Dale, Chairman of the parliamentary commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionary…was he really the only man available right now? Just how many Members of Parliament were stuck outside the gridlock? In fact shouldn't they have been airlifted in hours ago?

_Apparently someone cancelled it._ Was the only conclusion he could come up with, and the only person who could possibly have that kind of authority was the Acting Prime Minister sat in front of him. Didn't want to give up his new throne, did he? Thought he could manage this crisis on his own? The most Greene had ever done was marginally lower the amount of sugar in outgoing sweets two years back – hardly qualifying traits for leading a government hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

And on that note why hadn't the military taken over yet? General Asquith there should have relieved Greene the moment he stepped into this building, so how come he seemed to be sanctifying the running of the government to a fat baubley man with no credibility…who had just farted quite noisily? The Doctor screwed his face up in disgust as, he was sure, many others did likewise. If this was the leading power then he really should've made a break for it back at the estate. Still, he was here now so he might as well try to save the world before all hell broke loose.

And so it began as everyone finished reading the documents, taking a moment to discuss it amongst themselves like a group of undergraduates, when Asquith called for their attention, "As you can see from the summaries in front of you," he said briefly and stiffly, all military bravado, though slightly ruined by the outlet of a minor fart, "the ship had one porcine occupant…"

Oh they were _not _going to go back onto that, the Doctor had firmly had enough of pigs being passed off as aliens today, and if anyone seriously thought it was real they deserved to have their UNIT status taken away. Alistair would never have allowed this! "Now the _really _interesting bit happened three days ago." he interrupted loudly, getting the whole room's attention, including that of the two sat upfront, the general looking a bit put out. Feeling a lecture coming on, the Doctor jumped out of his seat and started pacing up and down the aisle in the middle, "Filed away under every other business. The North Sea – your satellites picked up a signal, little blip of radiation at one hundred fathoms" a blip that Tahkaullus had apparently been tracking all on his own – the Doctor didn't believe that for a second, even if he did have his own screwdriver – and had his efforts nearly crushed when this lot caught on "like there was something down there."

He halted at the front of the conference room, turning to the assorted scientists and military officers, purposely blanking out the useless ones, patting his rolled up document in his empty palm "You were just about to go down there to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens – spaceships, pigs – massive diversion." And here was the question that the Doctor really wanted answered, something that was nagging at him "But a diversion from what?" He asked them all, though clearly, from the way that some of them shrugged and others just coughed a bit in embarrassment, they hadn't thought that far ahead.

_Blimey, UNIT has gone backwards. _The foremost defence for planet Earth and they weren't even considering the alternatives? Well it was time they started thinking again! "If aliens fake an alien landing, and an alien pilot" the Doctor pressed, "what do they get?"

But then it clicked: An alien crash landing, gathering of experts, mass hysteria across the country, a pig to get them to look the other way. What always happened, out of that list of things he'd just gone through, when an alien ship appeared on a small, not-there-yet planet like Earth? The experts gathered. And that was what it was all about. "Us…" He answered his own question, realisation coupled with foreboding "they get us. It's not a diversion at all, it's a trap."

By now he had everyone intrigued, probably even the idiots behind him who were still letting out air. He had half a mind to chastise whoever it was but right now he had a planet that needed un-trapping. "This is all about us!" He went on, marching down the centre again, every eye in the room, he noticed, following him as he spoke, not one of them trying to work it out for themselves as he spoon-fed them. "Alien experts!" The phrasing was so that it sounded like he didn't believe them worthy of the title, while still keeping it in context, "The only people with the knowledge how to fight a hostile takeover, who've had experience, brought together in one room."

He was interrupted _again_ by a louder fart, this one most definitely from the lump sat down directly behind him. Fully irritated by the man's continuous inability to hold in his bowls, the Doctor turned raised eyes and a pointed expression in Greene's direction. "Excuse me," he snapped in annoyance, "do you mind not farting while I'm trying to save the world?"

He also didn't appreciate the rather amused smirk that was tinged with a little bit of menace as the fatso stared at him. "Would you rather silent but deadly?"

Okay, now what was he going on about? Did he want this little island to become alien food? Going by the way he and Asquith for some reason were snickering amongst themselves, that might be too far off the mark. Then the laughter halted and their gazes became a more set, purposeful one, studying the Doctor in particular.

"Well," Asquith began, still smiling hungrily, "I do believe it was time for a bit of sport." And he tossed his hat aside to reveal something…quite odd. There was a weird golden zipper running the length of his forehead and a little bit behind. He now reached up and took hold of the zipper, pulling it along and opening his head up whilst Greene began laughing in anticipation. The conference room was now bathed in an eerie blue light, all of the experts stunned into silence, and though he figured he should be doing something, the Doctor found his own curiosity at what he was facing holding him in place.

His forehead now all floppy, Asquith through it back and started to pull his skin down, the expression on his face going blank and the eyes shut as another head, olive green and moist with big round black eyes, pushed itself out on a long neck, around which was a bulky collar.

_A compression field! _The Doctor immediately recognised. That would explain all the gas coming out…but a gas exchange meant that whatever was wriggling its way free of that skin was going to be big.

The body was like the head, round and plump, though it stood on legs that looked like they could put a lot of power behind them despite their bulk. But it was the arms that drew the Doctor's attention the most; like the legs they were muscular, longer than them to be sure – perhaps half again, ending in three long sharp digits that looked more like blades than fingers. The whole body towered over the assembled experts, staring at them with expressionless eyes.

"My greetings to you, Earth-children" It gurgled at them. "Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are the Slitheen."

Well…at least he'd found the aliens. That was one thing in the Doctor's favour as he tried to think of a quick escape route. Right now messing with those talons was not something he felt like doing. But then there was the issue of all the others in the room still staring stupidly at the alien that had been a man minutes ago…a man that had likely been killed by said alien. So he needed to snap this lot out of it and then find a way to get them all out quickly, get help, find Rose, maybe throw Tahkaullus at them to see what these Slitheen could do, and think up a new plan. Simple. It wasn't like the creature could take them all at once…could it?

It turned out that it wouldn't need to as Greene, who probably wasn't Greene either, stood from his seat still smiling and pulled out a small remote from his jacket. "Thank you all for wearing your ID cards." He said smugly, flipping the cap of the remote open revealing the button beneath, which he then pushed hard, saying menacingly as he did "They'll help to identify the bodies."

The conference room was then filled with pained cries as everyone wearing a handed out ID card, meaning all of the experts, was suddenly zapped by a high voltage of electricity charging through their systems, stopping their hearts. The Doctor collapsed onto his knees, grunting in agony as the current surged through him, his ears ringing with the manic laughter of the Slitheen.

Oh this hurt, most assuredly it hurt, a lot. But not enough that he still couldn't move. With great effort and strength, he took a deep breath before reaching painfully slowly, the current fighting his body every step of the way, and grabbed hold of his ID card. Pulling sharply, he tugged the whole thing from his neck, ribbon and all, and for a moment just knelt there catching his breath. Sweating horribly, he rose back onto his feet, taking in the stunned look on Greene's face, and a part of him wanted to laugh.

They'd played this very well, very, very well, but they'd gotten one bit wrong. They made the mistake of planning only for human experts, the proof of that now held within his fist.

"Deadly to humans maybe!" He couldn't resist crowing before lunging forwards and sticking the whole thing into the unmasked Slitheen's collar. The effect was immediate, the creature suddenly started flailing around as it now got the blast from the still active current. As the Doctor ducked under a swiping hand he made a discovery: the compression fields were on a net system. How did he know this? Because Greene was now sprawled over the desk he'd been sat at, clawing at his neck in open pain.

Deciding that now would be a very good idea to run for it and get help, the Doctor darted out of the conference room, rushing over to the nearby security sat about in reception. "Oi!" He called out to them gleefully, "You want aliens, you've got 'em. They're inside Downing Street! Come on!" He clapped his hands at them, and they all sprang into action. For the second time today, the Doctor found himself with an armed squad at his back. Usually that would have made him uncomfortable but right now he was too delighted to care. Aliens in Downing Street! Oh, he could write a book about that and sell it for millions!

First though he had to capture said aliens in Downing Street, that current may be deadly to a human, but he was absolutely certain that these Slitheen creatures would be free of that soon enough. The Doctor just hoped he got there before they reinstated the Asquith disguise.

Barging into the conference room showed him how right he was, though it looked like they'd only just missed them – just a few seconds faster! Greene was making the finishing touches to Asquith, looking to be checking him over. At the sight of the armed security that had accompanied the Doctor back, he immediately lost his former menacing look and re-affected his useless, bumbling disguise. "Where've you been!" He demanded of them, "I called for help, I sounded the alarm!"

As he spoke the security personnel started checking the fallen bodies of all the experts, however the Doctor stood his ground simply glaring at the two of them. Just a little bit faster and he would've had them! Now things were bound to swing the other way, with all these dead experts and him the only survivor there was only one way this was going to go.

"There was this…lightning," Greene was warbling, "a kind of…um…electricity, and they all collapsed!"

The sergeant who was looking over a body nearest the front finished his examination and looked up pale-faced at Greene, "I think they're all dead." He reported hoarsely.

The acting Acting Prime Minister let out a furious gasp as he stepped down to get in the sergeant's face, "That's what I'm saying!" He shouted at him angrily, before turning an accusatorial finger at the Doctor, "He did it! That man there!"

And there it was, the Doctor now felt the eyes of every security guard turn to him. Still, maybe he had a chance, just a little one but he had to try. "I think you'll find," he said to the sergeant, "that the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise and…" Oh who was he kidding? Glancing around at all the disbelieving faces, as well as seeing the alien in disguise in question fold his arms a bit superiorly, he gave up. "That's never gonna work, is it?" He asked the guard next to him.

The guard raised non-believing eyes at him and shook his head, "No." he told him shortly.

_Yeah, figured that._ Sighing in defeat, he smiled pleasantly at the surrounding forces. "Fair enough." He conceded, thus falling back on plan B. He legged it.

His departure startled the security officers enough that he was able to shove past them before they knew what he was doing. Taking advantage of that he darted immediately for the closest escape route. However Downing Street was notorious for having multiple ways in and out of, and the conference room was no different, having a second exit that cut the Doctor off as security forces came streaming out ahead of him. Behind him the other half came down the hall, boxing him in and pressing him against the lift. Once more he found himself with guns being pointed at him with his hands in the air, and once more he could only smile at the little humans with their little guns. It was so cute that they thought those little projectile things were effective!

Asquith and Greene came forward, pushing their way to the front of the crowd, effecting their respective parts. The 'general' immediately affected his furious 'how dare you do this' face and pointed angrily at him "Under the Jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols," he shouted at the security guards, "I authorise you to _execute this man!" _

Even as he spouted his angry order, the security guards were readying weapons, the corridor suddenly filled with clicks as safeties were flicked off and cocking mechanisms were primed. And the Doctor felt a little tingle of nerves growing, "Ah, well, um…you see" he stuttered a bit, backing up a bit more. "The thing is, if I was you, I was going to, er, execute someone by backing them against a wall, between you an' me, little word of advice." A ding behind him relieved all of his fears all at once – save for the bit about the large green monsters hiding inside big humans – and he gave them all his cheeky grin. "Don't stand them against the lift!" He taunted, before jumping back into the now open space.

He had every gun following him quickly, but his hands were faster, going into his jacket pocket to retrieve his sonic screwdriver and then aiming it at a random floor. The door slammed shut behind him, giving him a chance to wave goodbye to an enraged Greene and Asquith as well as the guards that had been holding him at gunpoint.

He was safe…for the moment.

* * *

_Alright, _Kaullus groused inwardly as he tried to catch his breath. _That hurt! _Bloody thing had gone and skewered him, nearly ripping into his coat! That alone was enough for him to hunt the green thing down and turn her into paste, but then he had to add to his plate that she'd throttled him, as well as snapped his neck! Oh when he was done with her they'd need an ID card to identify _her _body! On that note he felt a new batch of fury as he stared at the still body of Indra just a little way away from him.

For eight months, this man had worked tirelessly to bring the Underworld up-to-date information, hacking into systems, breaking into file rooms, going so far as to send them a copy of the Emergency Protocols. And what did he get in return for his service? Death by electrocution.

_Another one gone._

Kaullus had a very close relationship with his Elites, they all did. It was the only way that they could work so in tune with each other, there were only fifty thousand of them at any given time and often they would be spread out pretty thin across the globe.

There was only one time every year that everyone was together and that was on the twenty-third of September, the anniversary of the Underworld's founding. On that one day, the whole Corps came together, meeting on an island within the Bermuda triangle large enough to hold them all, but small enough that it didn't any unwanted attention, giving themselves a chance to reaffirm old ties, as well as make new ones with the youngsters. It was only one day though, and there was no guarantee that they'd all be there again next year. As there was no policy on or against fraternisation with fellow Elites, and the Underworld had nothing against polygamous relationships, these parties therefore often turned into one huge orgy that lasted well into the night. Kaullus himself had never taken part in them, his self-imposed celibacy keeping him from ever going that far, but he knew Indra had to have been with more than a few people – men, women, unisex, non-sex, the possibilities when it came to the Underworld's species were endless – and so now it was going to have to be his solemn duty to inform Eye that they needed to call those lovers up to inform them of who had been lost today. A friend to many and a brother to his fellow Elites, including Kaullus who would now have the other solemn duty of burning his remains.

But not before he burned his killers' first.

He felt no remorse, therefore, when the creature that had been bearing down on Rose and Harriet suddenly started spasming in pain. Letting out a distressed howl, it backed away from them, its deadly arms flailing around aimlessly.

Seizing their opportunity, Rose grabbed Harriet and made a beeline out of the Cabinet room, her knowledge of his nature clear as she didn't stop to check on him. Right now she couldn't wait for him to get up, not when she was already handicapped enough as it was by someone not used to this sort of exercise. Hearing the cabinet door slam behind him, Kaullus tried to get up but flopped right back down. His spine hadn't healed yet, though he could still feel his legs so that was something.

_Come on! _He tried again to get back up, his legs responding this time, but again failed to get any sort of power underneath them.

The need became more urgent when the Slitheen's pained shrieks suddenly stopped, replaced by a few minutes of heavy breathing as it caught its breath, whatever had caused it to seize up having failed. He tried again, getting a bit of lift but the blood-flow was too sudden, rushing into empty limbs and he misjudged his legs' competence, falling forward onto the floor again. Thankfully, the alien didn't notice though it seemed to be sniffing the air angrily, looking for fresh meat, most likely the pair that had been in front of it minutes before.

_Come on, dammit! _

"No wait!" His ears pricked up as he heard Harriet Jones' voice somewhere down the corridor. "They're still in there, the Emergency Protocols! We need them!"

_No, no, no, no! _If he had heard that, he was willing to bet Margaret the Slitheen had too. They both must have heard the two sets of feet pounding on the floor coming back the way they'd just come. The Slitheen looked up at the closed door in front of it, snarled hungrily, and barrelled through it shattering the timber. There was a chorus of terrified screaming close by and a change in the direction of the nearing pair, sound now growing fainter, however their footsteps were now mixed with the third heavy plodding of the alien's as it chased after them.

_Come ON! _Angry at his own uselessness, Kaullus punched the carpeted floor. Grabbing a chair for support, he started to pull himself up, his reattached spine aching at the effort. He was still bleeding heavily but that would clear up soon enough and he turned all his attention to his legs. Once again the blood-rush threatened to knock him back over but he quickly turned himself to face the Cabinet table and rested his hands on it. After a moment the initial imbalance faded and he was left with a prickly sensation running up and down his veins, causing him to jump from foot to foot as the blood started to circulate properly again.

Shaking one foot and then another, he was about to pat himself over for any other injuries when somewhere down the hall he heard the shattering of another door, coupled by the animalistic roar of the Slitheen somewhere down the hall. He forgot everything he'd been doing in that second and tore out of the wrecked Cabinet doors, running in the direction of that sound.

He passed through another wrecked door and ran down the following corridor to a third wrecked wooden door, coming across the Slitheen bearing down on Rose and Harriet again. Furious enough as it was, that gave Kaullus further incentive to dice this thing and he charged it head on, putting his weight into his shoulder and crashed into the creature, sending both of them sprawling over each other. He got back up immediately and ran around to get in front of the alien's previous targets, if she wanted them she would go through him.

As for the Slitheen, she looked rather confused at the sight of him. "Didn't I already kill you?" She asked him, though her tone said that that was just fine with her.

For his part he just shrugged, "I get that a lot." He replied, smirking a little. Margaret then got back to her feet and was ready to charge him again when a ding distracted them both.

To his left the lift doors opened to reveal the Doctor, hands behind his back and grinning like a maniac. He looked at the alien and continued beaming away. "Hello!" he greeted it, nodding happily at Kaullus.

_Oy me, will he please get serious! _Shaking off his stupor, Kaullus reached back behind him and grabbed someone's – he hoped it was Rose's – arm and threw whoever it was at the open lift. The Doctor caught her and for a moment his smile faltered.

"Who the hell're you?"

"Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North."

That sorted out, the Doctor nodded pleasantly "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise!"

_Bugger! _

Still, it was done now and the same trick wouldn't work twice. Jumping on the chance available to him though, Kaullus grabbed Rose and pulled her away down the corridor. Behind him he heard the ding of the lift and an enraged howling from Margaret. She'd be coming after them soon enough. They needed somewhere a bit more fortified, or at least a place to hide to give the Doctor time to meet up with them if he couldn't get Rose out on his own. Finally he found an unlocked door and shoved Rose through first, the Slitheen hard on their backs.

Gambling it all, he slammed the door behind him and pulled out his sonic. _Please let him have thought ahead! Please let him have thought ahead! _He held the screwdriver up to the door and pressed the button.

To his great relief he was rewarded by a steady hum as the screwdriver locked the door and then, just because it apparently could, warped the wood of the door. And not a moment too soon as something slammed into the door, shaking it on its hinges.

"That's not gonna hold her long." Rose pointed out, trying the other doors. "Locked."

"Get back." He held up the sonic and pressed the button…only for it to conk out on him. _What? _Looking it over for damage, none that he could see, he tried again. Nothing happened again.

"Why isn't it working?!" Rose demanded looking over her shoulder as the door rattled about again, Margaret would be in here any second.

Shaking his head in frustration, Kaullus looked the sonic over again, "I don't know…it's like it's on a timer or something…" Just great, he had a screwdriver that worked on wood but only when it felt like it! Brilliant! Pinstripes was going to get hell for this the next time he saw him! Another slam on the door distracted him from his moody screwdriver as the door inched open a bit, behind which they could now clearly hear Margaret growling, sniffing the air. Looking around, he saw that they were in the state room, a few hiding places to choose from.

Abandoning the door, he grabbed Rose and pulled her behind the desk, pulling her down beneath it. Not exactly the best hiding spot but it was all they had at the moment "You stay down." He told her firmly, taking in her heavy breaths and slight shivers, before looking back up. "No matter what you hear, you stay down."

And that was the end of it, he jumped back to his feet and ran behind the screen at the far end of the state room, opposite the door. As soon as he was behind it, Kaullus flattened himself against the screen and pulled out his Beretta, thanking whoever was watching over him for security's neglect to take it off him when they entered Number 10. He couldn't have been there sooner because the next moment there was a final slam and the door smacked wide open admitting a large green monster of a being…that also happened to be an alien.

"Oh, such fun!" Margaret cackled as she began plodding about the room, "Little human children! Where are you?" She cooed playfully as she looked around. _As if she can't smell us both!_ "Come sweet humeykins! Come to me. Let me kiss you better! Kiss you with my big, green, lips!"

Slowing his breathing to a crawl, Kaullus tried to chance a look round, and darted right back when he saw a giant green wall of flesh right next to him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he brought his gun to bear, maybe if he aimed it just right he could bring her down with a couple of shots. At last Margaret moved away, though she was still tittering happily as she moved away. His vision cleared again, Kaullus glanced round and nearly shouted when he saw Rose dart from her spot behind the desk to the cover of the drapes. What the hell was she doing?! What if Margaret had seen her? All to get behind the curtains? That was an even worse hiding spot than the last one! She was boxed in there, and those Slitheen arms would cut her off before she had a chance at running!

Pulling back, he considered going for broke when Margaret's heavy footsteps were joined by another two. Her voice called out to them in fond greeting, "My brothers!" She seemed absolutely delighted, probably because the other two were out of their disguises as well.

"Happy hunting?" One asked, male and just as gurgled as Margaret's.

_Crap! _One he could probably handle, but now he could hear three sets of feet moving that weren't his or Rose's. Taking Margaret's talons into account, Kaullus wasn't sure he wanted to see the length of the male ones – part of him preyed though that Margaret's were the longer ones – and three sets of them would be damn near impossible to avoid in this enclosed space. For the moment though, it seemed that they were distracted, enjoying the nostalgia of the moment if he had to guess.

"It's wonderful!" Margaret was laughing again, "The more you prolong it, the more they stink!"

"Sweat," a third voice intoned, breathing in the air, "and fear."

_Oh great, so they _can _smell us! _He'd been hoping he was wrong with Margaret, but now he had confirmation: They were being toyed with.

"Oh" the first male voice taunted, lumbering very close to him now, "I think that got someone angry!" He sang, "This one's strong though, experienced…he's not so much being hunted as he is trying to hunt us!" The way he said it though showed just how much he wasn't scared of Kaullus, he thought it hilarious that someone was trying to fight back. "All wound up and ready to spring at a moment's notice."

"Indeed." Margaret giggled again, lumbering forwards towards Rose's hiding place "And a ripe youngster!" She hissed, arms moving forwards and skimming the ground where Rose had been moments before. "All hormones and adrenaline, fresh enough to bend," her arm raised high and pulled away the curtain revealing a terrified Rose "before she snaps!"

And then all planning went out the window. Fury at being played with, coupled with an anger at the creatures that had killed his friend, one of which was now bearing down on Rose of all people, spurred Kaullus forward. He broke from cover and pointed his gun right at Margaret's head. Before either of the other two could react he was emptying his entire magazine into the back of her skull, the ricochet effect of the Beretta's rapport smacking into his wrist to the point where he felt like it had broken his hand. Bullet after bullet rained into the back of Margaret's head and for a second she faltered, before turning big black eyes away from Rose to settle on him.

The other two then turned to him in silence and he suddenly found himself in a similar position to the one he'd been in a few minutes ago…except with even more sharp pointy things coming his way. Annoyance above everything seeped in then and he looked down at his now empty gun. "Honestly, why do I carry you around?" He looked up at the three of them, as if they had the answer, "I'm serious, this damn thing is useless when it comes to you lot."

Their only reply was to draw their sharp claws nearer to him.

_Okay Doctor, this is usually when you come in to save the day! No pressure, but I'm about to get skewered again!_

And again, whatever force that was watching over him today decreed its work not done as suddenly the three Slitheen were blasted back by a forced shot of CO2. Looking around for his saviour, Kaullus spotted the Doctor and Harriet stood in the entrance to the state room, the Doctor brandishing a fire extinguisher "Out!" He called to them both, "With me!"

For the second time today, Kaullus barged a Slitheen over, this time sending a second one over, and darted over to the Doctor's side. A moment later and Rose was next to him, having pulled the drapes down over Margaret's head, obscuring her vision. He doubted that the Doctor had missed the rather precarious position he'd been in a moment ago, and so Kaullus wasn't surprised when he turned to smirk at him. "Didn't think that one through at all did you?"

His response was to just shrug and nod back at the six sets of talons that were now headed their way "You try thinking with that much pointy stuff in your face!"

"Fair point." And he blasted them with another dose of the fire extinguisher. That served to knock them back again, but only for a few moments because after that the extinguisher cut out. "Right then," the Doctor muttered, holding the empty canister for a moment, before dropping it and grabbing Rose's hand. "Run!"

A better suggestion there wasn't, as Kaullus darted out right after Harriet and Rose, the Doctor leading them away. Once again they found themselves running through brutalised corridors, the Slitheen soon back on their tails.

"We need to get into the Cabinet room!" The Doctor shouted back to them, running through another ruined door.

And here two of the other three scoffed, memories of their previous runaround returning, "That'll be a snap!" Rose replied, "Just follow the debris!"

"The emergency protocols are in there!" Harriet added in, nearly tripping over the wooden remains of a shredded door that had fallen to the Slitheen. "They give instructions on how to proceed in the event of an alien incursion!"

"Like that'll do us any good if we're dead!" Kaullus snapped, seeing the Doctor get ready to congratulate her on her thinking. What they needed to do right now was keep running! A smash and several snarls behind them fortified his point and he chanced a glance back. The three Slitheen were right there, on all fours racing towards them, splinters flying as yet another door was pulled off of its hinges and smashed against a wall. _How many doors does this place have?_

They reached the Cabinet room again, only to be met once again with a locked door. "Can't go in this way," the Doctor said quickly turning around, "it's all wood, we'll need to find an open door."

That would waste time that they simply didn't have! A growl from the corridor told Kaullus that the Slitheen were only seconds away. There was a possible chance, but it had gone out on him before. _But what other choice is there? _He asked himself, looking around. All the other doors were shut and, he was willing to guess, locked. Another roar made up his mind and he halted the Doctor before he could run off, "Wait!" Preying that it would work, Kaullus pulled out his sonic and held it up to the door. _Please have timed out, please have timed out, please have timed out. _He pressed the button, and hoped.

Immediately the door unlocked. Not taking time to sigh in relief, he reached back and ushered everyone inside, the Doctor sputtering in ill hidden envy at the sonic screwdriver that could open his greatest foe – wooden doors. Nevertheless, they were once again inside the Cabinet room, but now they had the issue of keeping the Slitheen out and Kaullus was willing to bet his screwdriver would pack up again if he tried to lock the door.

Thankfully the Doctor again came to their rescue, darting over to a side table in the office and grabbing a bottle of port. He then dashed back to the doorway and held it up to the Slitheen who were now right in front of them, pointing his own sonic's tip at the bottle. "One more move," he warned them, "and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up! So back off!"

_Triplicate the…? _Kaullus hadn't even known that they could do that! However, as he glanced at the Doctor, it was plainly clear that he didn't know that either…_He's bluffing! It can't do that at all! _Nevertheless the Slitheen didn't know that, and at his warning of flaming death via alcohol, they backed down, though not very far and all looking like they would really like to get back to the business of their impalement. The ploy wouldn't work for long but it would give them some time to work things out.

And as such, now that he had a captive audience, the Doctor got going on what he did best: Talking. "Right then," he demanded of them, "question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens!" Harriet blurted out, as if that was the silliest question he could've asked.

Recognising her inexperience in this area, Kaullus kept his tone gentle, "We get that bit Harriet, but what I think he wants to know is what kind of alien."

But it was clear that the Slitheen were used to this sort of interrogation as the one on the right just shot back, "Who are the two of you if not human?"

Ah…looked like they'd caught his scent as well. And the Doctor must've done something to give himself away. Idiot. Once again though, Harriet, confused by the meaning of the question, asked "Who's not human?"

"They're not human." Rose answered quickly, indicating him and the Doctor.

"They're not human?"

The byplay behind him must've gotten a bit on the Doctor's nerves as he glanced back at them, "Can I have a bit of hush?" He asked quickly. When they shot him an apologetic look he turned back to their hunters, still staring at them with those large baby-eyes. "So, what's the plan?"

But it seemed that just a simple answer wouldn't do it for Harriet as she continued, "I mean, I suspected something of the young man here," she indicated Kaullus and his ruined shirt, "when he reappeared and tackled one after being stabbed, but him," she turned confused eyes towards the Doctor, unsure what to make of him, "he's got a northern accent."

"Oh, so _I'm _obvious?" Kaullus muttered to himself, then glanced at the Doctor, feeling a smirk coming on as something occurred to him. "Well, just the northern accent should tip you off. It is pretty alien isn't it? I suppose lots of planets have a North."

"I said hush!"

Ah success! He'd gotten a rise out of the Doctor even when they were being stared down by a horde of creatures that wanted to rip them to shreds! Mission complete. Now that that was taken care of he could focus on the important matters of finding out what was going on here.

"I suggest you three start talking," he stated, sauntering forward to stand next to the Doctor. When they scoffed at him, he whipped out his own sonic, pointing the emitter at the bottle in the Doctor's hands. "'Cos my sonic's better than his. Triplicate the flammability? I'll quadruple that triplication, we'll take all of Downing Street with us." He searched their faces, keeping his own neutral, to see if his ploy was working. Alas though he couldn't read expressions on alien faces, that's why they were _alien! _It was hard enough trying to get a grip on what the Doctor was planning! Nevertheless, he seemed to have got them and so put forward his own question, "Now then, you've had a spaceship hiding in the North Sea for at least a month. In that time you've murdered your way to the top seat of power in the United Kingdom. What for though?" When they didn't answer, he snapped angrily, "Is this the first steps of an invasion?!"

Whatever they were here for, the Slitheen on the right spat on his question, "Why would we invade this godforsaken rock?"

"Oi!" He snapped right back at it, his screwdriver humming dangerously at the alcohol, causing them to back up a bit, "This 'godforsaken rock', as you put it, happens to be my home!"

"Easy!" The Doctor shoved him back a bit, taking the forefront again, "Fact is you're here now. Something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?"

Oddly enough that seemed to amuse the three aliens even further, Margaret's weird laugh tittering out from between the two male Slitheen. "'The Slitheen race'" She repeated, smiling condescendingly at the Doctor. "A fanciful idea, to be sure, but truly? I fear the universe wouldn't be able to contain itself."

"'Slitheen' is not our species." The Slitheen on the right clarified – and seeing as he was doing most of the talking, Kaullus had a feeling that he had to be the leader in this whole thing. But now he was as decidedly confused as the Doctor at its claims. If that wasn't their species then what did 'Slitheen' stand for? After a short pause, as if to give them time to work out the correct answer, it answered for them, sounding a bit disgruntled, "'Slitheen' is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen," and he gave them a short mocking bow, "at your service."

That had been the absolute last thing evidently on both their minds, as the Doctor and Kaullus glanced at each other with stupefied expressions. After a moment, the Doctor snapped back to it, smiling lightly, "So you're family." He summarised.

To that, Jocrassa just shrugged, as if that were obvious, "It's the family business."

Something in Kaullus' jaw came loose and he knew that it was fighting to drop to the floor. He couldn't have heard that right. Immediately he peered over them to have a look around for their godfather figure. _If this is seriously an intergalactic mafia we're dealing with, I'll eat my coat!_

It seemed that the Doctor was also coming to that same conclusion as he worked with what he had, "Then you're out to make a profit." He deduced, "How can you do that on a godforsaken rock?"

"Oi!" Kaullus snapped, whirling on him, sonic buzzing louder as it nearly slammed into the port bottle. "Don't you start calling it that too!" But he just went ignored by the rest of them.

Or maybe he didn't, his prodding on the glass drawing the Slitheen's attention away from the Doctor and back to Kaullus as his screwdriver hummed with power…and nothing happened to the glass. "Ahhh…excuse me," the so far silent male Slitheen on the left spoke up, indicating the bottle in the Doctor's hand, "your devices will do what? Triplicate the flammability?"

_Crap…_ they'd caught on. And a glance at the Doctor told him how much that expletive was deserved as the big-eared nut looked at the glass in his hand and then at his sonic still pointed at it. "Is that what I said?" He asked, wincing at his own lie.

"You're making it up!"

Letting out a disgruntled huff, as if the uncovered deceit had been over something petty, the Doctor muttered a bit to himself before smiling up at the Slitheen again, who were now raising their claws, "Ah well," he conceded, "nice try. Harriet!" He passed the brandy back to her, "Have a drink. I think you're gonna need it."

"Pass it to the left first." She returned, her hands clutching a large red briefcase, which Kaullus recalled being described as the home of the Emergency Protocols. Not taking his eyes off the three Slitheen in front of him, the Doctor nodded and pulled it back, handing the bottle to Rose, which she thanked him for weakly.

"Now we can end this hunt," Jocrassa declared eagerly, flexing his claws and beginning to stalk forward, his brother and sister behind him, "with a slaughter!"

_Okay, _Kaullus thought to himself quickly, stepping back ever so slightly, his right side turning inwards,_ they can run as fast as us, if not a bit faster, have claws that would make a rhino's horn look cute, and there are six of those said claws…each…yeah. _"Rose, pass the bottle over." She did so quickly and he pulled the lid off, tipping his head back and gulping down a good portion of the brandy. Feeling a bit light headed after that, he relished the little bit of dizziness accompanied by a slight loss of his normal surefootedness. Well he was about to be cut up by alien mafia, he didn't really want to be thinking straight right now. So he was absolutely baffled by the Doctor, who was just standing there, arms folded and looking a bit impassive to the whole thing. _Well if he wants to regenerate that badly, that's his own concern!_

Looking around he spotted another door, left ajar. If they could make that then they stood a chance. He nudged Rose and nodded over to the door. Seeing what he meant, she nodded and looked back to the Doctor, who was still just standing there. "Don't you think we should run?" She asked him, confused by his stubborn stance.

"Fascinating history, Downing Street." He began, lecture voice on.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Kaullus barked at him, "This is hardly the time for a history lesson!"

But the Doctor just glanced back at him, "There's never a bad time for a history lesson," he stated seriously, "so shut up, you might learn something. Now where was I?" He frowned a moment, every second the Slitheen inching closer, savouring the moment. "Ah yes! Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was owned by a Mr Chicken." He smiled a little to himself, "He was a nice man. 1796, this was, and still is, the Cabinet room."

_Wait a minute…_ Something in the back of his head started talking and Kaullus stopped backing up, grabbing Rose and Harriet, keeping them still. There was something they'd had done to this building back in the 1990's, he'd been abroad at the time, hadn't given it much thought. Some sort of anti-terrorist action in response to the IRA or something…however that meant…

"If the Cabinet," the Doctor continued over his thoughts, "is in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain." And as a little bonus to his latest rave on specific history, the Doctor then flipped up what Kaullus had thought to be the light switch to reveal a second, larger, great big red button, which he then pressed, adding on a cheeky, "End of lesson!"

Before anyone on either side of the doorway knew what had happened, two large grey shutters slammed in the faces of the oncoming aliens. At the same time, a series of slams were heard behind them, signalling the closing of many more shutters behind doors and windows. Looking around now, Kaullus saw them all, the only lighting available being the artificial lights of the lamps and the overhead chandeliers, giving the whole room a bit of a gloomy look. The Doctor's satisfied smirk, however, lit him up like a Christmas tree. "Installed in 1991," he boasted proudly, "three inches of steel lining in every single wall. They'll never get in."

"Not bad." Kaullus admitted, looking around at the sturdy defences. Even the Slitheen's claws wouldn't get through all of that. For now they seemed to have found their best bet at holding them at bay. He smiled, relieved, knocking his fist against the shutters, getting a resounding clang. "Not bad at all."

It was Rose though who spotted the gaping hole in the Doctor's plan even as the other two started to relax a bit. "And how do we get out?" She asked plainly.

The relieved grin wiped itself off of Kaullus' face and he turned questioning eyes to the Doctor. He just looked at them both, smiled broadly, and uttered a realising "Ah."

* * *

**A/N:** And so they are now trapped in the Cabinet Room. Oh well, at least they can't be gotten at by the Slitheen. Anyone want to flay me alive for the whole wooden door working thing? I gave it a limit though! That has to count for something, right? Right?  
Yeah, I'm just going to run for my life now. See ya next chapter!  
Polls still up, though its pretty clear which way I'm gonna go. Right then bye!


End file.
